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Copyright by Yale Studio Reprodu:ed by Special Permission 

DR. A. T. STILL AT AGE OF EIGHTY^SIX 

FOUNDER OF OSTEOPATHY 
"I love my fellow man, because I see God in his face and 
in his form." 



CONCERNING 

OSTEOPATHY 

A Compilation of Selection from Articles 

Published in the Professional and Lay 

Press with Original Chapters 



BY 

GEORGE V; WEBSTEK, D. O. 



and Special Articles by Members of 
the Profession 



ILLUSTR AT E D 



-v';- 






Copyright 1910 
Copyright 1915 

By GEORGE V. WEBSTER, D. O. 






FLOYD J. RICH 

PRINTER AND PUBLISHER 

CARTHAGE. N. Y. 

JUL I 1915 

©GI.A406545 



To Him 

To Whom Health is Wealth 

This Volume is Dedicated 



Preface to Revised Edition 

THE first editions of Concerning Osteo- 
pathy met with such favor with the 
public and profession that it is with 
pleasure I have set for myself the task of 
preparing this edition for the reader. 

The first editions which found a distri- 
bution through the United States, Canada, 
England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Aus- 
tralia, have been entirely revised — several 
chapters being omitted to give place to oth- 
ers which it is hoped will give the reader a 
fuller understanding of the present develop- 
ment of Osteopathy. I am indebted to Drs. 
J. Deason, C. M. T. Hulett and R. Kendrick 
Smith for contributing original chapters; to 
Drs. Asa Willard, Carl P. McConnell, M. F. 
Hulett and R. E. Hamilton for revision of 
chapters; to Drs. Mina Abbott Robinson, 
Roberta Wimer-Ford and E. E. Tucker for 
revision of articles, and to many other pro- 
fessional friends for valuable aid and sugges- 
tions relative to the revision. 

G. V. Webster. 
Carthage, N. Y. 
June 1, 1915. 



PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 

THE purpose of this volume is to reflect 
the position of Osteopathy as a ther- 
apeutic agent in its work of adding to 
the sum total of human happiness by the 
amelioration of physical suffering. 

Little originality of text has been at- 
tempted, but, rather, in the review of the os- 
teopathic literature that has appeared from 
time to time in the professional and other 
publications, an effort has been made to select 
such articles as seem appropriate for this 
volume. These, in some instances rearranged 
and condensed to omit technicalities, have 
been compiled in a more or less logical order, 
giving the history of Osteopathy, its devel- 
opment as a science, an exposition of its theo- 
ries, some of its practical workings and some- 
thing concerning its founder, Dr. Andrew 
Taylor Still. 

Osteopathy has so increased the sum of 
human comfort and usefulness that a spirit 
of inquiry has been aroused as to just what 
Osteopathy is, what it has done and what 
may be expected of it. With a view to pre- 
paring a volume which may in a measure 
provide the information desired, these pages 
have been arranged. 

Acknowledgment is here made of the 
courtesy of the several publishers for the 
permission granted to select from their pages 
such articles and quotations as appear in this 
book. Where possible, credit has been given 
both to author and to publication. 

G. V. Webster. 
Carthage, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1910. 



Table of Contents 



Osteopathy and Truth — A. T. Still, M. D., D. O. 17 
History of Osteopathy — Asa Willard, D. O. . ... 21 

How I Came to Originate Osteopathy — 

A. T. Still,, M. D., D. 31 

What Osteopathy Is — Carl P. McConnell, D. O. 45 

The Point of Departure Between Osteopathy and 

Medicine — E. E. Tucker, D. O. 51 

Disease From an Osteopathic Viewpoint — 

M. F. Hulett, B. S. ,D. 65 

What Osteopathic Lesions Are — 

G. M. Laughlin, M. S .D., D. O. 75 

Manner of Treatment — G. V. Webster, D. O. . . 81 

A Differentiation 

Differences Between Osteopathy and Mas- 
sage—A. T. Still, M. D., D. O. 89 

An Illustration — Asa Willard, D. 90 

Scientific Proofs of Osteopathy — 

G. V. Webster, D. O '95 

A Summary of Osteopathic Research Work — 

J. Deason, M. S., D. 107 

The Osteopathic Education 

Osteopathy, A Distinct School — 

C. P. McConnell, D. 115 

Osteopathic Teaching — C. C. Teall, D. O. . . 118 

The Osteopathic Curriculum — 

R. H. Williams, D. 118 

Application of Osteopathic Principles — 

G. V. Webster, D. 125 

Diseases of the Nervous System 12B 

Diseases of the Digestive System 127 



Table of Contents (Continued) 

Diseases of the Respiratory System 130 

Diseases of the Circulatory System 131 

Diseases of the Kidney 134 

Diseases of the Pelvic Organs 135 

Diseases of the Skin 138 

Scute Infectious Diseases 139 

Diseases of the Eye and Ear 141 

Constitutional Diseases 143 

The Growth of Osteopathy — 

A. G. Hildreth, D. 149 

Osteopathic Specialists — 

R. Kendrick Smith, D. O.,... 157 

Osteopathic Institutions — C. M. T. Hulett, D. O. 167 
Osteopathy and Surgery — 

Geo. A. Still, M. S., M. D., D. O. 173 
How Osteopathy Treats the Blood — 

C. P. McConnell, D .0 179 

Relation of Osteopathy to the Germ Theory — 

R. E. Hamilton, M. Ph., D. O. 187 
The Value of Osteopathy to the Child — 

Mina Abbott Robinson, D. O. . 197 
Woman and Osteopathy — 

Roberta Wimer-Ford, D. O 201 

Osteopathy a Preventive of Disease — 

G. V. Webster, D. 207 

A Delicate Question — Life 213 

The Results of Osteopathic Practice — 

G. V. Webster, D. 217 

Osteopathy in the Future — Russel Duane 223 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dr. Andrew Taylor Still Frontispiece \ y 

Osteopathic Hospital and School at Kirksville, 

Mo 37 V 

The A. T. Still Research Institute 109 ^ 

Cottage in which Osteopathy was first Taught. . 151 

Still-Hildreth Sanatorium 169 ^ 

The "Old Doctor" Studying the Femur 209 v 



Osteopathy and Truth 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



From an address by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still delivered 
on his eightieth birthday. 



1 am sure that no man of brilliant mind can pass this 
milepost and not hitch his team and some precious loading. 

—A. 1. Still 



Osteopathy is the knowledge of the 
structure, relation and function of 
each part of the human body applied 
to the adjustment or correction of 
whatever interferes with the harmony 
ious operation of the same. 

— G. V. Webster, D. 0. 



Osteopathy and Truth 

By Andrew Taylor Still, M D., D. O. 



WHILE for years, I fought the battles 
of Osteopathy alone, meeting great 
opposition and vilification, I knew 
I had the truth and that the truth was 
immortal and that some day the principles of 
Osteopathy would be hailed with gladness 
throughout the earth. The principles are in 
harmony with the great laws of Grod as seen 
in Nature. Osteopathy deals with the body 
as a perfect machine, which, if kept in prop- 
er adjustment, nourished and cared for, will 
run smoothly into ripe and useful old age. 
As long as the human machine is in order, 
like the locomotive or any other mechanical 
product, it will perform the function which 
it should. When every part of the machine 
is correctly adjusted and in perfect har- 
mony, health will hold dominion over the 
human organism by laws as natural and im- 
mutable as the laws of gravity. Every living 
organism has within it the power to manu- 
facture and prepare all chemicals and forces 
needed to build and rebuild itself. No mater- 
ial other than nutritious food taken into the 
system in proper quality and quantity can be 
introduced from the outside without detri- 
ment. A proper adjustment of the bony 



18 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

framework and the soft structures of men's 
anatomical mechanism means good diges- 
tion, nutrition and circulation; health and 
happiness. 

Osteopathy is not a theory, but a dem- 
onstrated fact. You may say there are 
some failures. Yes, who would not expect 
it ? We are called to treat people who have 
been poisoned and diseased beyond the 
possibility of anything except a little tem- 
porary relief . Or perhaps the Osteopath is not 
able to apply the knowledge he should have 
gained before being granted a diploma from 
an osteopathic school. This reflects no more 
upon the science of Osteopathy than does the 
farmer who fails upon the science of farm- 
ing. Again many are looking for miracles 
and are disappointed when a few treatments 
fail to bring wonted strength and vigor. 



History of Osteopathy 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



The philosopher begins an ignorant man, knows this to 
be his condition and uses the many methods that 
occur to his mind to better his condition by a knowledge 
of demonstrated truths. 

— A. T. Still 



The starting point of medicine is fur- 
ther back in history; the starting point 
of Osteopathy is further back in nature. 
—E. E. Tuker, D. 0. 



History of Osteopathy 

By Asa Williard, D. O. 

THE early history of Osteopathy is the 
history of one man, its founder, Dr. A. 
T. Still. Its principles were first put 
forth by him in 1874. 

Dr. Still was a regular practicing phy- 
sician and during the war, an army surgeon. 
He was born in Virginia, his father being a 
minister. The family moved west and Dr. 
Still, during his early life, experienced all 
the perils and hardships of pioneer life. 

Dr. Still was always of an observing, in- 
vestigating turn of mind. An incident illus- 
trative of this is told of his boyhood days. 
After playing hard, he was often troubled 
with a headache. One day he lay down under 
the swing tree, with the back of his neck 
slung in the swing rope which almost touch- 
ed the ground. He fell asleep. When he 
awoke, he found that his headache was gone. 
They usually lasted him a good while and 
he got to thinking of it. After that when he 
had a headache, he went to the swing rope. 
Of course, all he knew about the procedure 
then or for years afterward was that the 
headache stopped. The treatment, however, 
was rational and its results can be explained 
physiologically. The pressure of the rope 
simply caused the tissue at the back of the 



22 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

skull to relax and allow the congesting blood 
to flow from the head. 

In the early 70 % Dr. Still had three 
children die from spinal meningitis, in spite 
of the employment of every means known to 
medical science at that time. This experience 
seemed to thoroughly confirm him in the 
view that something was lacking in the ac- 
cepted mode of treating disease. He began 
devoting almost his whole time to the study 
of the human body and investigating along 
lines that suggested themselves to him. He 
dissected animals and dug the bones from 
old Indian graves to get material for his 
study. His * ' bag of bones' ' came to be a joke 
throughout that part of Kansas in which 
state the Still family then lived. 

In his autobiography, he says of his 
study of the body of man, "By the use of 
the knife and the microscope I have traced 
for these many years, the wonderful and per- 
fect work therein found, carefully inspecting 
every fiber, gland and all parts of the brain; 
I have observed the construction of the parts 
and their uses." 

Great thoughts do not come spontan- 
eously, but the basic idea may, after years of 
study, come in a moment to the investigator. 
In 1874 Dr. Still grasped the pivotal truth of 
Osteopathy and that year he calls the birth 
year of the science. He began devoting his 
whole time to the development of his science 
and as he did so he experienced that derision 
and ridicule which has always been the lot of 



HISTORY OF OSTEOPATHY 23 

those whose discoveries have meant radical 
departure from the established ideas. 

When in the seventeenth century, Har- 
vey discovered and proclaimed how the 
blood circulated from the heart through ar- 
teries and veins he was designated as 
" crazy' ' by his medical brethren and ostra- 
cised from medical societies. Such was the 
treatment accorded Dr. Still. 

His medical friends sneered at him and 
when he made efforts to explain to them his 
discovery they refused to listen to his 
H crazy" talk. He lost practice, his friends 
fell away from him. He was well to do and 
had accumulated considerable property in 
Kansas. He and his brother had donated 480 
acres of land for the site of Baker University 
at Baldwin, Kans. When he asked the privi- 
lege of explaining Osteopathy at the Univer- 
sity, the doors of the structure he had helped 
to build were closed against him. He grad- 
ually lost his property and with his family 
moved to Missouri. For about ten years he 
traveled over the state visiting patients in 
various places. At times he actually wanted 
for life's necessities. He finally located in 
Kirksville, Mo., and practiced there and 
throughout the surrounding country. His 
work was almost entirely confined to the 
poor and very little of it was paid for. Every 
now and then, rumors of some wonderful 
cures which he had performed pervaded the 
community. From among those whom he 
had cured, he had loyal friends, but in the 



24 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

main the community referred to him as 
"that old quack, Still" and they attributed 
what success he had to faith cure, mesmer- 
ism, etc. "Doctor," a lady said to him one 
morning, "Now, be honest with me; isn't 
your success due to hypnotism?" "Well, 
madam, it may be," replied the doctor, "I've 
set three hips already this morning." 

In spite of the aspersion and ridicule 
heaped upon him and the difficulty of making 
both ends meet, he was always cheerful and 
optimistic and eternally confident of the 
world's ultimate recognition of Osteopathy. 
There was always a oneness of purpose in his 
work. This, combined with a heart filled with 
charity, seemed entirely to exclude all 
thoughts of money matters or personal ag- 
grandizement. 

I remember an incident in my own ac- 
quaintance with him which was illustrative 
of this and which occurred a few years after 
he had started his school. I was sitting with 
him on his back porch and with an open an- 
atomy in his lap and a skeleton at his side, 
he was explaining to me some point of the 
bodily structure. A little crippled girl on 
crutches came around the corner of the 
house. She was a charity patient. "Oh, yes, 
I want to look after this little girl. Now you 
see" — and he then entered into an explana- 
tion of her condition and how it could be cor- 
rected. While he was talking, his wife came 
to the door and said, "Pa, Senator — 's wife 
is waiting for you in the parlor." "All 



HISTO RY OF OSTEOPATHY 25 

right, in a minute," said the Doctor, and, 
with one hand on the little girl's back, he 
went on explaining. After a while, concluding 
with, ' ' Now we '11 go over to the school, ' ' he 
started for the school, having to be reminded 
again of the lady who was waiting for him in 
the house. He had become so interested in 
the little crippled charity patient that he had 
forgotten all about the United States Sena- 
tor's wife whose husband was one of the most 
influential men in the country. 

Hard work, persistence and self-sacrifice 
finally won. Occasionally some person of 
prominence became interested. His theory 
was so rational that these brought others. In 
spite of the fact that his patients were almost 
entirely from those claimed as hopelessly in- 
curable by the old method of healing, some 
of his cures were marvelous. People began 
to be attracted from distances and the "Old 
Doctor' ' with his two older sons, Charlie and 
Harry, soon had as much practice as they 
could attend to. 

In 1892, he established a school. Many 
of his friends tried to deter him, some think- 
ing his ability was a gift and could not be im- 
parted to others. Others said that he was a 
fool. After all these years of struggle, he 
ought to hold on to his secret himself and be- 
come wealthy. But money was the last thing 
about which Dr. Still thought. After the es- 
tablishment of the school, although opposi- 
tion by no means ceased, recognition came 
more rapidly. 



26 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

Today, Dr. Still is a hale old gentleman, 
eighty-six years of age. Unlike the vast ma- 
jority of the great who have made revolution- 
ary discoveries of benefit to mankind, he has 
lived to see the fruit of his labors — to see his 
science generally recognized. In the little 
city of Kirksville where he lives, the citizens 
refer affectionately to him as the "Old Doc- 
tor. ' ' He is a scientist and a man. When he 
comes to lay down his staff, it can be said of 
him, as it was said of another, "Were every 
one to whom he did some loving service to 
bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep 
beneath a wilderness of flowers. ' ' 

A brief outline of the present status of Os- 
teopathy will serve to show the remarkable 
progress made by this system of healing since 
the first school was established in 1892. A 
progress unequaled in a like period of time 
by any system which the history of the heal- 
ing art records. The first class, enrolled in 
the school which Dr. Still established in 
1892, numbered eighteen. The classes were 
conducted in a two-room frame cottage which 
today looks across the street toward a four- 
story building which houses complete labor- 
atories and facilities for instructing the sev- 
en hundred osteopathic students of The 
American School of Osteopathy. By the side 
of this building is a large hospital, one of the 
best equipped and most efficiently managed 
of any in the country. 

Since the establishment of this school, 
other well equipped osteopathic schools have 



HISTORY OF OSTEOPATHY 27 

been established and modern osteopathic hos- 
pitals are run in connection with them. Be- 
sides the American School of Osteopathy at 
Kirksville, Missouri, there is now: The Mass- 
achusetts College of Osteopathy at Boston, 
Mass.; Philadelphia College of Osteopathy 
at Philadelphia, Pa.; Des Moines Still College 
of Osteopathy, Des Moines, la.; Central Col- 
lege of Osteopathy, Kansas City, Mo. ; Chica- 
go College of Osteopathy, Chicago, 111.; and 
the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy at Los 
Angeles, Cal. In addition to these schools, 
the profession has established the A. T. Still 
Osteopathic Besearch Institute, at Chicago, 
HI. Already an endowment fund of $100,- 
000.00 has been subscribed for its support. 
That it may be of the utmost efficiency in de- 
veloping the humanity-benefitting truths 
promulgated by the founder of Osteopathy, 
it is the intention of the osteopathic physi- 
cians and their friends to raise $1,000,000.00 
for its endowment. 

There are today seven thousand osteo- 
pathic physicians practicing their profession 
in the United States and Canada, and the pro 
fession has representatives in all of the lead- 
ing foreign countries. Its practitioners have 
been accorded legal recognition in all but a 
few of the states and in a number of the 
Canadian provinces. In most instances they 
have been granted independent State Exam- 
ining Boards. 

The National Organization of the profes- 
sion, the American Osteopathic Association, 



28 CONCERNING. OSTEOPATHY 

enrolls over fifty percent of all graduate Os- 
teopaths. This indicates the profession's con- 
tinued virility and honest humanitarian in- 
terest in the principles expounded by the uni- 
versally revered founder. An examination 
will show that this percentage of the active 
membership in a profession's national or- 
ganization is paralleled by no other profes- 
sion in the world. The profession's increase 
and progress simply indicates the public ac- 
ceptance of the osteopathic idea. 



How I Came to 
Originate Osteopathy 



{Reprinted by permission from the Ladies Home Journal) 



I first saw the tracks of God in the snow of time. I 
followed them. 

— A. 7. Still 



Tradition has been the everlasting 
parent of tyranny. 

-A. T. Still 



How I Came To Originate 
Osteopathy 

By Andrew Taylor Still, M, D., D. O, 

MY first awakening to the principles 
which today have culminated in the 
science called " Osteopathy' ' was 
made when I was about ten years old. I was 
a boy on my father's farm in Macon County, 
Missouri. I was subject to sick headaches, 
and while suffering from one of these attacks 
one day I was instinctively led to make a 
swing of my father 's plow-line between two 
trees. My head hurt too much to make 
swinging comfortable. I let the line down to 
within eight or ten inches of the ground, 
threw the end of a blanket on it, and lay 
down on the ground, using the line for a 
swinging pillow. To my surprise I soon be- 
gan to feel easier, and went to sleep. In a 
little while I got up with headache and fever 
gone. This discovery interested me, and af- 
ter that, whenever I felt my headache spells 
coming on, I would " swing my neck," as I 
called it. 

The next incident which gave me cause 
for thought occurred when I contracted dys- 



32 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

entery, or flux, with copious discharges mix- 
ed with blood. There were chilly sensations, 
high fever, backache and cold abdomen. It 
seemed to me my back would break ,the mis- 
ery was so great. A log was lying in my fa- 
ther's yard. In the effort to get comfort I 
threw myself across it on the small of my 
back and made a few twisting motions, which 
probably restored the misplaced bones to 
their normal position, for soon the pain be- 
gan to leave, my abdomen began to get warm, 
the chilly sensation disappeared, and that 
was the last of the flux. 

Mill Machinery Interested Me 

My father, as a pioneer, was a farmer, a 
mill owner, a minister and a doctor. I stud- 
ied and practiced medicine with him. 

Pioneer life on a Western farm in those 
days was one in which all the inventive 
powers one might possess were given ample 
chance to show forth. There was very little 
to buy and less money to buy it with. My 
father had a grist and saw mill run by water, 
in the working of which I became very much 
interested. Later, I bought an interest in a 
steam sawmill, and took a course of instruct- 
ion in milling machinery for practical pur- 
poses. 

As I studied this mill machinery I got 
my first clear idea of the machinery of the 
human body. My mind invariably associat- 



HOW I CAME TO ORIGINATE OSTEOPATHY 33 

ed and compared the machinery of the mill 
with the machinery of the human being: 
with the drive-wheels, pinions, cups, arms 
and shafts of the human, with their forces 
and supplies, framework, attachment by lig- 
ament and muscle, the nerve and blood sup- 
ply. "How" and ''where" the motor nerves 
receive their power and motion, how the sen- 
sory and nutrient nerves act in their func- 
tions, their source of supply, their work done 
in heath, in the parts obstructed, parts and 
principles through which they passed to per- 
form their duties of life — all this study in 
human mechanics awoke with new vigor 
within me. I believed that something abnor- 
mal could be found which, by tolerating a 
temporary or permanent suspension of the 
blood in arteries or veins, would produce the 
effect which was called disease. 

With this thought in mind came such 
questions as: What is disease? What is fev- 
er? Is fever an effect, or is it a being as is 
commonly described by medical authors? 
I took disease to be an effect, experimenting 
and proving the position, being sustained 
each time by Nature 's response in the affirm- 
ative. 

Early in the sixties I took a course of 
instruction in the Kansas City School of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, studying such branch- 
es as were taught in the medical schools of 
that day. I took up the regular practice of 
an allopathic physician. I was called a good 
doctor. 



34 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

"The Proper Study of Mankind is Man" 

During all this time I had devoted a 
large part of my time to the study of anat- 
omy, which attracted me strongly. I read 
every book on the subject I could get hold of, 
but my chief source of study was the book of 
Nature. I found myself more and more be- 
lieving that i ' the proper study of mankind is 
man, ' ' and the best method to pursue it is to 
dissect and study the body itself. The skin- 
ing of wild animals in my youth brought me 
into contact with muscles, nerves and veins. 

The skeletons of the Indians were my 
next study in bones, and I went on making 
numberless experiments with bones until I 
became very familiar with the entire bony 
structure of the human body. Finally, I tried 
an experiment of my own: I made a picture 
or chart of the bones of the whole body, then 
stood blindfolded, or with my back to a table. 
A bone would be handed to me by an assist- 
ant. I would take it in my hands and by the 
"feel" of it would name it and direct where 
it should be placed on the chart (right or 
left). I carried this to the extent of even the 
smallest bones of the hands and feet and 
those of the spine, until the chart was filled 
in completely. This I used to do over and over 
again. For not less than twelve months I 
studied bones alone, before taking up Des- 
criptive Anatomy, because I wanted to know 
what a bone is and its use. I became as fa- 
miliar with every bone as I was with the 



HOW I CAME TO ORIGINATE OSTEOPATHY 35 

words "father" and "mother." Of course 
all this meant untiring work, and I have 
hardly expected my students to follow me 
over the entire length of this portion of my 
road. Nevertheless, I believe as strongly to- 
day as ever that the closer they follow this 
road, the better for their patients. They 
must study and know the exact construction 
of the human body, the exact location of ev- 
ery bone, nerve, fibre, muscle and organ; the 
origin, the course and flow of all the fluids of 
the body, the relation of each to the other 
and the function it is to perform in perpetu- 
ating life and health. In addition, they must 
have ability to enable them to detect the 
exact location of any and all obstructions to 
the regular movements of this grand machin- 
ery of life, and supplement this ability with 
skill to remove all such obstructions. 

From this study in bones I went on to 
the study of muscles, ligaments, tissues, ar- 
teries, veins, lymphatics and nerves. 

I began now to feel that I was irresistib- 
ly headed for some road : what road I myself 
knew not. Of one thing I was certain: I was 
getting farther away from the use of medi- 
cines in the treatment of ills and ails. I was 
a physician of the old school in name but not 
in fact. 

I carried on my theories: I practiced 
them wherever I could find people who would 
place confidence in me, until the Civil War 
came on. Then I enlisted and went ' 'to the 
front." 



36 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

On resuming my duties as a private cit- 
izen after the war I took up again the study 
and research of my all-absorbing topic: how 
to cure disease without medicine, and on 
June 22, 1874, there came into my mind the 
first clear conception of the practical work- 
ings of what is now known as the Science of 
Osteopathy. This day I celebrate as its birth- 
day. 

One of the First Cases I Treated 

In the autumn of 1874 I was given a 
chance to try my ideas on a case of flux. I 
was walking with a friend on the streets of 
Macon, Missouri, in which town I was visit- 
ing, when I noticed in advance of us a woman 
with three children. I called my friend's at- 
tention to fresh blood that had dripped along 
the street for perhaps fifty yards. We caught 
up with the group and discovered that the 
woman's little boy, about four years old, was 
sick. He had only a calico dress on, and, to 
my wonder and surprise, his legs and feet 
were covered with blood. A glance was 
enough to show that the mother was poor. 
We immediately offered our services to help 
the boy home. I picked him up and placed 
my hand on the small of his back. I found if 
hot, while the abdomen was cold. The neck 
and the back of the head were also very 
warm and the face and nose very cold. This 
set me to reasoning, for up to that time the 
most I knew of flux was that it was fatal in a 
great many cases. I had never before asked 



HOW I CAME TO ORIGINATE OSTEOPATHY 37 



myself the question: What is flux! I began 
to reason about the spinal cord which gives 
off its motor nerves to the front of the body, 
its sensory to the back; but that gave no clew 
to flux. Beginning at the base of the child's 
brain, I found rigid and loose places in the 
muscles and ligaments of the whole spine, 
while the lumbar portion was very much con- 
gested and rigid. The thought came to me, 
like a flash, that there might be a strain or 
some partial dislocation of the bones of the 
spine or ribs, and that by pressure I could 
push some of the hot to the cold places and 
by so doing adjust the bones and set free the 
nerve and blood supply to the bowels. On 
this basis of reasoning I treated the child's 
spine, and told the mother to report the next 
day. She came the next morning with the 
news that her child was well. 

There were many cases of flux in the 
town at that time and shortly after, and the 
mother, telling of my cure of the child, 
brought a number of cases to me. I cured 
them all by my own method and without 
drugs. This began to stir up comment, and 
I soon found myself the object of curiosity 
and criticism. 

Why I Started a School of Osteopathy 

Another case which I was asked to see 
brought upon me still further criticism. A 
young woman was suffering with nervous 
prostration. All hope had been given up by 



38 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

the doctors, and the family was so told. Af- 
ter a number of medical councils her father 
came to me and said: "The doctors say my 
daughter cannot live. Will you step in and 
look at her V 9 I found the young woman in 
bed, and from the twisted manner in which 
her head lay I suspected a partial dislocation 
of the neck. On examination I found this to 
be true — one of the upper bones of her neck 
was slipped to one side, shutting off, by pres- 
sure, the vertebral artery on its way to sup- 
ply the brain. In four hours after I had care- 
fully adjusted the bones of her neck she was 
up and out of bed. 

I went through those interesting yet try- 
ing days deaf to criticism and comment. I 
worked alone, studying, investigating, exper- 
imenting. 

Gradually people began coming to me in 
increasing numbers, and soon I found that 
my practice was beginning to grow beyond 
the limits of my strength. Several persons, 
seeing my increasing practice, now began to 
urge me to teach them a knowledge of the 
practical workings of my discovery. In the 
early nineties I concluded to teach others the 
principles that underlay my drugless work. 
I realized that I must have help or break 
down. I had four sons and one daughter, 
able-bodied young people, and the thought 
came to me to educate them in this science 
in order that they could assist me in my work. 

I employed the best talent that I could 
find to teach them anatomy, physiology and 



HOW I CAME TO ORIGINATE OSTEOPATHY 39 

chemistry, teaching them, myself, the prin- 
ciples and practice of my own science. After 
my school had been in running order a short 
time others becane interested and asked per- 
mission to join, and the class increased in 
numbers. At the end of the first year I had 
some students who were able to help me in a 
way, and in the course of two years I really 
had assistance. This was the origin of what 
is known today as the American School of Os- 
teopathy. 

With the origination of the school came, 
of course, the necessit y of a name to desig- 
nate the science, and I chose " Osteopathy/ ' 
I reasoned that the bone, ' ' osteon, ' ' was the 
starting point from which I was to ascertain 
the cause of pathological conditions, and I 
combined the "osteo" with "pathy." 

So " Osteopathy,' ' sketched briefly, was 
launched upon the world. 

Now What is Osteopathy? 

Many people naturally ask: ''What is Os- 
teopathy? 

Osteopathy is simply this: The law of 
human life is absolute, and I believe that 
Grod has placed the remedy for every disease 
within the material house in which the spirit 
of life dwells. I believe that the Maker of man 
has deposited in some part or throughout the 
whole system of the human body drugs in 
abundance to cure all infirmities: that all the 
remedies necessary to health are compound- 
ed within the human body. They can be ad- 



40 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

ministered by adjusting the body in such 
manner that the remedies may naturally as- 
sociate themselves together. And I have nev- 
er failed to find all these remedies. At times 
some seemed to be out of reach, but by a close 
study I always found them. So I hold that 
man should study and use only the drugs that 
are found in his own drug-store — that is, in 
his own body. 

Osteopathy is, then, a science built upon 
this principle: that man is a machine, need- 
ing, when diseased, an expert mechanical en- 
gineer to adjust its machinery. It stands for 
the labor, both mental and physical of the 
engineer, or Osteopath, who comes to correct 
the abnormal conditions of the human body 
and restore them to the normal. Of course, 
"normal" does not simply mean a readjust- 
ment of bones to a normal position in order 
that muscles and ligaments may with free- 
dom play in their alio ted places. Beyond all 
this lies the still greater question to be solv- 
ed: How and when to apply the touch which 
sets free the chemicals of life as Nature de- 
signs ? 

Osteopathy to me has but one meaning, 
and that is, that the plan and specification by 
which man is constructed and designed shows 
absolute perfection in all its parts and princi- 
ples. When a competent anatomist (as the 
successful Osteopath must be), in treating 
the human body, follows this plan and speci- 
fication, the result will be a restoration of 



HOW I CAME TO ORIGINATE OSTEOPATHY 41 

physiological functioning from disease to 
health. 

An Osteopath is only a human engineer 
who should understand all the laws govern- 
ing the human engine and thereby master 
disease. 



Tie a string around your finger— tight. 
What will follow? The finger will turn, red, 
and then it will turn black. In time it will 
die, and perhaps in consequence you will die 
too. No treatment, internal or external, 
material or mental, save your finger so 
long as the string remains. The only thing 
necessary is the removal of the string. This 
in a crude way illustrates the principle which 
is the basis of Osteopathy. 

This principle is that anything which in- 
terferes with blood curents or with nerve im- 
pulses must be overcome in order to secure 
health of the parts affected. 

— E. M. Downing, D, O. 



What Osteopathy Is 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



When all parts of the human body are in line, we 
have perfect health. When they are not, the 
effect is disease. When the parts are readjusted dis^ 
ease gives place to health. 

—A. T. Still 



Osteopathy is not a remedy. It is not 
a part of medicine or surgery. It is 
not a treatment for some particular 
class or group of diseases. It is a 
complete system of therapeutics appli- 
cable alike to all curable diseases. 

—Percy H. Woodall, D. 0. 



What Osteopathy Is 

By Carl P, McConnell, D. O. 



THE science of Osteopathy primarily de- 
pends for its success upon a most thor- 
ough and comprehensive study of the 
anatomy and physiology of the human body. 
Osteopathy has for its object the maintenance 
of the complete circuit of the motor, sensory 
and sympathetic nerves, to and from all the 
organs and tissues and the restoration of that 
harmonious action which must ensue when all 
parts are unirritated by any cause, thus per- 
mitting a perfect freedom of all fluids, forces 
and substances pertaining to life. 

In the application of this knowledge to 
the healing art is where the school of Osteo- 
pathy differs from its predecessors. Osteo- 
pathy retains the knowledge gained in the 
medical world, but believes that the adminis- 
tration of drugs in a remedial sense is a mis- 
take and that, by a thorough understanding 
of the mechanism of the human system, on 
an anatomical, physiological and hygienic 
basis, disease can be prevented or controlled, 
in an exact and definite manner by the appli- 
cation of principles peculiar to osteopathic 
practice. 

More and more it is being realized that 
the use of drugs is not to be depended upon; 
and the intelligent physician, as well as lay- 



46 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

man, is not satisfied with the results. It is 
even questioned whether their use has not 
been more harmful than the sum of all the 
diseases of mankind. 

Osteopathy, on the oifher hand, depends 
for its remedial effects upon the integrity of 
nature; consequently the Osteopath believes 
that the giving of drugs for the cure of hu- 
man ills is unreliable and unscientific. 

Human System Complete in Itself 

The human system is a perfect organ- 
ism, a universe within itself, and being com- 
plete has the recuperative power of nature 
within it. If such were not the case, the hu- 
man body would be incomplete, man would be 
obliged to seek extraneous aid in the allevia- 
tion of disease, and in such instance the use 
of medical agencies would probably be more 
of a success. 

The first step in osteopathic attainment 
is a most exhaustive knowledge of anatomical 
structures and the physiological functions of 
the human body. Then is observed the fact 
that man is a complete being, capable of per- 
forming his own mental and physical acts 
when in health; that disease is simply evi- 
dence of disorder, and to restore health neces- 
sitates a correction of disordered parts. 

The human organism contains the at- 
tributes of a physical mechanism. Vital func- 
tions are conditioned and amenable to the 
structural laws of physics. This fact deter- 
mines the value of the science of Osteopathy 



WHAT OSTEOPATHY IS 47 

— its practicalness. Herein is contained the 
essence of the art of Osteopathy. 

In the restoration of health the Osteo- 
path works entirely in harmony with nature, 
correcting disorders of mind and body upon a 
physical basis through the application of his 
knowledge of the laws and principles of the 
human body, thereby looking upon disease as 
some disorder of the normal function of the 
body, and not as an entity to be attacked by 
some foreign force which would only allevi- 
ate, antagonize or overshadow the real trou- 
ble. 

Examination of the Patient 

The patient is examined from a physical 
viewpoint. Pathological conditions and symp- 
toms are used as clues to find the cause of the 
disease. Back of these signs and symptoms 
of the disease must be traced the origin of the 
nerve supply, and the course of the blood 
channels from the parts diseased to the exact 
region, or primary lesion, causing the abnor- 
mal condition. 

The cause of the disease may be a dislo- 
cated or sub^dislocated bone, ligament, carti- 
lage, or muscle, producing an inhibition or ir- 
ritation of a nerve fiber or causing obstruc- 
tion to an artery, vein, lymphatic or some 
fluid of the body, thereby resulting in disor- 
der to that part of the body to which the af- 
fected nerve or vessel is connected or distrib- 
uted. When the point of exact cause of the 
disease is located, aid is given crippled na- 



48 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

ture in re-establishing the normal activities 
of its forces. 

Osteopathic Treatment 

The mode of treatment is a scientific 
manipulation, applying the mechanical prin- 
ciple which is indicated in each separate case. 
Osteopathic treatment is not simply applic- 
able to a particular line of diseases, but cor.- 
trols with precision and success all curable 
diseases of the entire category. Its newly dis 
covered principles, peculiar to osteopathic 
practice, are of an unerring and comprehen- 
sive nature. 

Osteopathy's laws and principles, being 
in harmony with, and, in fact, part of the in- 
finite natural forces of life, show its predom- 
inance over all previous schools of medicine. 

The Osteopath does not depend upon 
medicine to act upon the structure or func- 
tion of the disordered tissue, for the diseased 
tissue is simply an effect, but he relies upon 
the natural forces within the human body. He 
first corrects the structural deviations of any 
region that may be affected and thus restore* 
physiological harmony to the diseased parts, 
and this being done, health must ensue. 



The Point of Departure 
Between Osteopathy and 
Medicine 



(Reprinted by permission /torn the Osteopathic Magazine) 



I felt I must anchor my boat to living truths and follow 
them wheresoever they might drift. 

— A. T. Still 



The recognition of pressure as the 
cause and continuation of disease, and 
the adoption of manipulative measures 
for the relief of such pressure, are the 
essential characteristics that differentiate 
Osteopathy from all of the other ther^ 
apeutic systems. Adjustment is the 
keynote of Osteopathy. 
—J. W. Banning, M. JD., D. 0. 



The Point of Departure 

Between Osteopathy and 

Medicine 

By E. E. Tucker, D. O. 

IN an open hearing before a committee of 
the State legislature of New Jersey, a 
question was asked by one of the mem- 
bers of the committee that went unanswered. 
"What," said he, "is the point of depar- 
ture between Osteopathy and medicine V 9 

If we are rigyht in believing that all who 
think at all about Osteopathy ask themselves 
consciously or unconsciously the same ques- 
tion, then the answer will be pertinent here. 

The most conspicuous point of departure 
is that the doctor of medicine gives medicine, 
the osteopathic physician does not, but in- 
stead corrects structural disorders, which the 
medical doctor does not, and leaves the rest to 
nature. Many things they have in common, 
that is, they both correct bad habits, advise 
diet, use surgery occasionally, etc. 

In his mind the average man asks why 
this is a point of departure? Are the two 
schools compatible? 

They are incompatible. And they are 



52 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

incompatible practically, psychologically, 
historically, educationally, scientifically, and 
philosophically. 

Practical Point of Departure 

The osteopathic physician corrects dis- 
orders because he finds them. No other rea- 
son need be given. And he leaves the rest to 
nature because he finds that that is all that 
is necessary. A purely practical thing is the 
practice of Osteopathy. The practice of med- 
icine, on the other hand, uses medicines be- 
cause it "believes" in them and because the 
authority of its school teaches them;that is to 
say, because such is the traditional practice of 
that profession. It is not because medicines 
have been found efficient. What the medical 
world really has found out about medicines 
is — that it has to keep on changing them, and 
hunting for new ones. 

Psychological 

Is the use of the word "belief " here just- 
ifiable? I think it is, and incidentally it 
brings us to the psychological point of depar- 
ture. "Belief" in drugs is buried centuries 
deep in the mind of the whole people. When 
some man becomes a doctor of medicine, he 
carries this belief with him. It takes years 
of practical experience to shake it. As fast 
as the belief is destroyed at the top it is re- 
newed again at the bottom. 

Also one believes in what one does. The 



THE POINT OF DEPARTURE 53 

belief in drugs is a natural consequence, as 
well as the cause, of giving them. 

No fault is to be found with the medical 
profession for this. The medical profession is 
merely that part of the great public which de- 
votes itself to the care and the cure of dis- 
ease along traditional lines. The fault, if it 
is a fault at all, is to be attributed to human 
nature — mystery-loving, miracle-loving, con- 
servative — living nine-tenths in the shadows 
it has itself made. 

Historical 

The historical point of departure dates 
from the very beginning of Osteopathy. It 
was rejected by the medical profession. Dr. 
Still proclaimed his new discoveries to his 
brother practitioners of medicine of that time 
and place, and has continued to present them 
ever since. They were and are rejected as 
being impossible and absurd; which means 
that they are incompatible with the training 
of the medical mind and with the practice of 
the medical school. 

Compelled thus to grow up outside the 
medical school, the new practice nevertheless 
continued to develop until it became both a 
separate profession and a separate science. 
It cured and continued to cure those who 
came to it, many of whom thereupon became 
practitioners — practitioners on whom medi- 
cine and surgery had failed — and these help- 
ed to emphasize the difference between medi- 
cine and Osteopathy. 



54 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

The strongest point in the historical de- 
parture was this, that Osteopathy had an op- 
portunity at first with only those on whom 
medicines had failed; whereas medicine 
handled all cases as they came, of whom at 
least eighty-five percent recover any way, with 
or without medicine; for which nevertheless 
medicine gets credit. Thus only in the case 
of Osteopathy was there a fair test of value. 
This test was immensely favorable to the 
new system. 

Its success, however, did not bring about 
the glad acclaim of the medical practitioners. 
Instead it hardened their hearts. Nor is this 
to be charged against them as a bad mark. It 
is not medical, it is human. 

We are not under the necessity of apol- 
ogizing for human nature; but it marks a 
point of departure between Osteopathy and 
medicine. 

Educational 

In its growth, therefore, Osteopathy fol- 
lowed the lines of least resistance and grew 
up a separate system; though it is a matter of 
fact that another medical practitioner, from 
Edinburgh, a fellow of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh, was farseeing enough to put the 
pressure of his undoubtedly great genius be- 
hind the anti-medical tendencies, to establish 
the independence of Osteopathy as firmly as 
he could. This man was William Smith,M.' D., 
C. L., F .R. S. E., D. 0. —of which titles he 
valued the last the most. 



THE POINT OF DEPARTURE 55 

Far from being a disaster, this absolute 
division proved to be the finest thing possible 
for the new science. If, by new methods, the 
old ones could be shown unnecessary, then 
was the world so much the gainer; for the old 
ones were at all times dangerous, and, with 
the least incompetence, deadlier than the dis- 
ease. 

Thus the educational departure of the 
new system became absolute. This enabled 
the new system to carry its measures to the 
highest possible efficiency. 

Scientific 

As to the scientific point of depar- 
ture, a scientific criticism of Osteopathy 
by the medical profession was never made. 
This was at first galling to many mem- 
bers of the osteopathic profession, but 
it need not have been. The last pos- 
sible thing that a crowd or any mass of 
men, or even a profession, is capable of, is 
scientific thinking. Science is an individual 
matter. With the mass of men, taken as a 
whole, it is an art. And one art is typically 
jealous of the other arts. This the public does 
not see, of course, and it seems that the legal 
mind does not see it any more easily; for it 
has tried persistently to compel the two to 
mix. 

But the science of Osteopathy also has its 
exclusiveness ; and in spite of the excellence 
of many scientific minds in the medical pro- 
fession, it is impossible for the science of Os- 



56 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

teopathy to lessen the rigidity of its scientific 
exclusiveness. First the medical profession 
practically rejected the science of Osteopa- 
thy. Then finding itself isolated and defined, 
the osteopathic profession found also that it 
had in hand a science that would not mix 
with medicine. This is in no sense a personal 
or a professional matter — it is not the act of 
a men or men — it is a question of science. 
The osteopathic profession found its science 
positive. It found that it could harmonize its 
positive findings with the positive pathology 
of general science, and with its own therapeu- 
tic measures. It found that it could not har- 
monize the definite and positive facts and 
principles of its science with the guess work 
of the medical practice. Osteopathy was pos- 
itive and exceedingly helpful. Where its help- 
fulness failed and its logic would not reach, 
there it was admissible to have recourse to 
experiment again, as the world had always 
done — had always had to do. But in so far 
as there was a definite and positive thing, ex- 
perimental practice was simply shoved far- 
ther away from the problem of disease. 

So long as the medical profession held 
the medical system to be fundamental, to be 
curative and not merely experimental, to be 
positive and not merely palliative, and an 
emergency system, so long was no compro- 
mise possible. This is, of course, a matter be- 
tween the professions, not between the 
sciences. Science is impersonal and cannot 
take sides. It is a matter for proof, not for 



THE POINT OF DEPARTURE 57 

warfare ; science cannot disagree with science. 
Scientists may dispute with scientists, how- 
ever, and will to the end of time. 

In practice, as all of the world knows, 
from the beginning up to the present time, 
the majority of the profession has acted upon 
this principle ; it has claimed exclusive rights 
in therapeutics and in authority. It has again 
and again shown an inability to develop self- 
criticism. This is not the fault of the men 
but of the system, or perhaps one might say, 
of human nature. The whole spirit of the 
miracle-search is opposed to pure science or 
any science. Mystery and miracle go hand 
in hand. 

But granting this fault in the philosophy 
and in the practice of medicine, is there yet 
no basis on which any of the great mass of 
work done by medical men can be made avail- 
able — can be found compatible with the os- 
teopathic science? The omission of materia 
medica from osteopathic schools does not 
mean the omission of surgical and sanitary 
medicines nor is it to be understood as mean- 
ing necessarily a denial of any truth or value 
in materia medica. Science cannot take neg- 
ative attitudes. It is, however, a very posi- 
tive assertion of the superior value of osteo- 
pathic means and of the greater need of de- 
veloping those means. 

The contrast must be made between the 
traditional practice of medicine and the 
wonderfully valuable research work being 
done in the medical laboratories. Of this lat 



58 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

er it is impossible to speak in terms of too 
high praise. The devotion and ability there 
has brought this age a degree of progress 
which must, when true perspective is obtain- 
ed, stamp it as the great therapeutic age. 
The research that is of value, however, is 
that in physiology, biology, bio-chemistry 
and surgery, rather than in medicine. All the 
progress in medicine that is of value has 
come through surgery. Sanitation is a de- 
partment of surgery, as are the wonderful 
agencies for the deadening of pain. In all of 
this Osteopathy rejoices and profits. 

* Philosophical 

The philosophical point of departure is 
no less definite and absolute. 

In medicines and other systems we have 
experimental methods for curing diseases. 
"Whether it be drugs or electricity or hydro- 
therapy or psychotherapy or any form of 
therapy, they are all attempts to make a wide 
or universal application of a thing that prov- 
ed good in some cases. They are entirely ex- 
perimental methods, merely trying for furth- 
er results with little reference to causes, pro- 
cesses and laws which are almost entirely un- 
known. 

They prove themselves mere methods, 

* PHILOSOPHICAL is here used in its commonly 
accepted meaning as partaining to the knowledge 
of the causes of all phenomena both of mind and 
matter, rather than in its strictly technical sense. 

— Ed. 



THE POINT OF DEPARTURE 59 

because they adopt other experimental me- 
thods and find no incompatibility in doing so. 
They prove themselves experimental meth- 
ods in the very criticism their exponents 
make of Osteopathy, being unable to see in it 
anything but another mere method. 

In contrast to these experimental meth- 
ods stands the osteopathic practice, based on 
the actual facts discovered in the individual 
case, agreeing with biology and explaining 
pathology; moving not at all until it finds dis- 
order and then only moving to correct this 
disorder and not allowing itself to be drawn 
into mere guess-work, preferring rather to 
leave all to the understanding of Nature ex- 
cept in so far as it can remove the causes of 
disease. 

These two contrasting systems cannot 
live together in the isame mind. Those school- 
ed in experimental methods who have suffi- 
ciently considered the osteopathic doctrines 
are convinced by them, and become osteo- 
pathic physicians and cease to be " believers ' y 
in medicine or ''believers" in anything else; 
but rise to the higher scientific plane of work- 
ing with the facts and trusting in them. 

Osteopathic philosophy is based abso- 
lutely upon this principle. It considers no 
move justifiable until that move can be based 
upon knowledge. It considers it rarely justi- 
fiable to interfere with or to suspend Nature 's 
processes, for which ishe has reason; or to 
nullify her laws, which are the conditions un- 
der which she moves. The worst possible 



60 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

travesty of science, the most pessimistic, in- 
deed the most atheistic and chaotic attitude 
toward Nature, is that which justifies 
blind experiment in an ordered physiological 
being. No justification can be found for ex- 
perimental methods, except in the absolute 
lack of sufficient knowledge of cause and ef- 
fect, and then only in the effort to find such 
cause and effect. In fact, this effort is con- 
tinued only because the public demands that 
some effort be made to cure or to discover a 
cure for their diseases. 

The philosophy of the medical system, if 
it can be said to have a philosophy, seems to 
have been based upon the doctrine that every- 
thing made by the Creator was made for 
some purpose. 

Possibly most of us would agree with 
this, but when the medical profession goes on 
to assume that He put ready to our hands all 
the herbs of the field and all of the chemical 
and other forces of nature, therefore He 
meant for these to be used for our relief in 
disease, we most heartily disagree. The logi- 
cal fault of such a doctrine is that it has no 
virtue. As well say, twice two is a pot of 
beans. It has been broad enough, however to 
justify almost any conceivable vagary that 
any dreamer with the medical degree could 
devise. 

This philosophy can hardly be called a 
philosophy. It is merely an inheritance. 
What the facts really are is as follows.: In so 
far as it is a mystery the only way to reach 



THE POINT OP DEPARTURE 61 

it is through experiments. The public de- 
mands that some effort be made, and it loves 
miracles. The search for specific remedies is 
the search for a miracle. Mystery and mir- 
acle go hand in hand and must forever go 
hand in hand. This miracle idea is a lineal 
descendant of the Philosopher's Stone with 
which students of history are familiar, the 
parent of alchemy and through alchemy the 
parent of medicine. The survival is not a 
science but a psychological phenomenon; not 
a fault of any group of men but an expression 
of human nature. 

In contrast with this, the philo'sophy of 
Osteopathy asserts that since the majority of 
mankind remains healthy under given condi- 
tions, and one or two become sick under 
these conditions, therefore the power exists in 
the organism to remain healthy, and the rea- 
son why illness arises in some cases and not 
in others is to be sought for in some differ- 
ence in those individuals. That difference is 
hunted for and found; and on it is built the 
practice of Osteopathy. Nature does not 
create functions to exist only as diseases. 
When disease does arise, it presents a ques- 
tion for determining what are the compelling 
causes. These compelling causes were found 
by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still to consist of ac- 
tual disorders in the parts of the body. As 
such they were studied. Thus developed the 
science of Osteopathy. 

The philosophy of Osteopathy is the phil- 



62 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

osophy of fact. The osteopathic profession 
makes a positive diagnosis of actual disor- 
ders found in the structure of the body, af- 
fecting its functional balance. It makes a 
positive claim of being able to remove such 
disorders. It shows in terms of known phy- 
siology the relation between the disorders 
and the result. In most cases it presents re- 
cords (made by men capable of making such 
records), of benefit or of cure, from the re- 
moval of these causes. 

The great point of departure then be- 
tween Osteopathy and medicine is that be- 
tween a practical fact and experimental prac- 
tice. 



Disease From an 
Osteopathic View Point 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy. ) 



God's pay for labor and time is truth and truth only. 

—A. T. Still. 



Osteopathy walks hand in hand with 
nothing but Nature's laws and for 
that reason alone it marks the most 
significant progress in the history of 
scientific research. 

— A. T. Still 



Disease From an Osteopathic 
View Point 

By M. F. Huiett, B. S., D. O. 

THE history of medicine is a record of 
empirical practice upon an all too 
credulous public. Hoping for relief 
we grab at a straw. Promise of cure, though 
without a semblance of reason back of it, 
like the candle light to the moth, lures its 
victims by the thousands, heedless of the con- 
sequences. Unfortunately, disease has been 
too little understood — and its remedy less so. 
Too long has it been considered that disease 
is a mysterious, devouring monster, separate 
and distinct from bodily mechanism — an in- 
vader, usurper on a mission of destruction. 
Very naturally, with this conception as a 
premise, the search for curative measures 
has been largely confined to attempts to dis- 
cover some agency that would drive out, ab- 
sorb or annihilate this grim terror. This 
search is largely the history of medical ther- 
apeutics, its nostrums, its poisonous com- 
pounds, its serums, its germicides and much 
of its surgery, all pointing with unerring aim 
to such a conclusion. Something, however, 
has been done in recent years on a more ra- 
tional basis; but even yet not a small amount 
of this ancient superstition still remains. 



66 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

It is a hopeful sign, however, to ob- 
serve that the foundation of this false ther- 
apeutic structure is being undermined — is 
crumbling away. We are searching more 
deeply into the cause and studying less the 
effect (except as it points to a cause) and 
its remedy. It is gratifying to note, too, that 
this change is largely co-existent with the 
origin and development of Osteopathy. This 
science, making less prominent the effect, the 
symptom, and being satisfied with nothing 
short of the discovery of a first and primary 
cause, has done more to bring about a better 
understanding of the " human machine' ' in 
its relation to diseased (or disordered) condi- 
tions than any other one therapeutic system. 
Its view point is from an entirely different 
field and we will endeavor to demonstrate 
that it has a more rational basis. 

In order to understand better this new 
conception, let us for the moment forget all 
about Osteopathy which may, in our individ- 
ual interpretation of its meaning, seem vague 
and indefinable, and, without being prejudic- 
ed, consider in a rational way a few well 
known physiological principles. 

Bodily tissues, muscles, glands, organs, 
etc., (without nerves to govern their actions) 
are inert, mere masses of matter, unrespon- 
sive and lifeless. Every movement of the 
body is the result of muscular contraction — 
an approximation of the different points to 
which the muscle is attached. But the muscle 
cannot contract itself; it has no inherent 



FROM AN OSTEOPATHIC VIEWPOINT 67 

power to act, it lies there dormant until put 
into motion by an independent force. This 
force, generated in the brain, or other subsid- 
iary center of origin, is transmitted along the 
nerve especially created for it to its point of 
action. Without this impulse, or stimulus, 
the muscle is helpless. This is true of all mus- 
cular contraction and is demonstrable beyond 
any question. A similar phenomenon is un- 
doubtedly true of all other functions. For in- 
stance, the stomach secretes certain digestive 
fluids. In this process of secretion, the se- 
creting gland acts, as does the muscle, only 
when influenced by the nerve impulse starting 
from its center of origin and treminating in 
the gland. In like manner, we can logically 
asume that every other tissue and organ ex- 
hibits similar phenomena. Even the blood 
and lymph circulation, on which bodily health 
so much depends, is similarly controlled. The 
heart, the greatest propelling force, is a mus- 
cular organ acting as do other muscles. The 
walls of the blood channels are everywhere 
supplied with muscles and their governing 
nerves controlling their calibre, thereby reg- 
ulating the quantity of fluid passing through 
them. Knowing these facts by practical ex- 
periment upon most of the bodily tissues, we 
dare assert that all function is governed by 
nerve stimulus, originating in the brain — or 
similar subsidiary center — and transmitted 
through the nerve to the organ or other part. 
With this conception of physiological 
function, we reasonably assume that health 



68 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

exists when functional life is normal — when 
the organ or part is in action in response to 
a normal nerve stimulus and that disease is 
the result of the opposite condition — a fric- 
tion of parts, an interrupted nerve current 
. and other causes to which these are contribu- 
tory. 

But why the opposite condition, this ab- 
normal action? Let us consider for a moment 
a condition that might produce this friction, 
or interference with the nerve current. The 
human machine, as are other machines, is 
subject to certain mechanical laws which 
must be obeyed. On account of its delicate 
structure and sensitive nature, it is even 
more susceptible to a violation of these laws 
than is the mere mechanical device. A dis- 
turbance of the relation of the parts, even 
though slight, produces friction somewhere, 
or impedes or restricts the nerve current. 
This done, function is impaired or ceases in 
the organ supplied by that nerve. The pro- 
ducts of that organ become deficient in quan- 
tity or quality — often in both — or its power 
to excrete the poisonous bodily waste ceases. 
Disease results with severity in direct propor- 
tion to the importance of the function impair- 
ed, to the amount of destroyed tissue, or ac- 
cording to the amount of poisonous matter 
retained in the system. To restore health, 
function must be re-established. How shall 
this be done ? We might cut away the diseas- 
ed part ; we might cauterize the area involved 
and cleanse it. But if we do nothing to re-es- 



FROM AN OSTEOPATHIC VIEWPOINT 69 

tablish the function, to adjust the structure 
interfering with that function, continued or 
progressive destruction must follow. 

There is only one way in which tissue 
can be reconstructed. 'The work must be 
done by the natural tissue-building proper- 
ties of the body, the normal blood and lymph 
and the products of digestion properly assim- 
ilated. No medicine will do this for the or- 
gan. The most expert chemist, with any pos- 
sible combination of drugs cannot construct 
tissue — no drug or combination of drugs will 
build tissue. In order to heal a wound there 
must be brought to it, through the natural 
channels of the body, the tissue-building ma- 
terials, food elements, the product of diges- 
tion. 

Obstructions are referred to above. 
What are they? Why do they exist? How do 
they originate? What effect have they on 
functional life? For the purpose of this ar- 
ticle reference to one class will suffice. The 
spine is composed of a number of bones, ver- 
tebrae, one upon the other, being so perfor- 
ated that together they form a bony canal in 
which lies the spinal cord. A joint is formed 
at the juncture of each pair of adjacent bony 
segments of the spine. The spine therefore is 
a series of joints, as well. Now the function 
of a joint is motion. This is what it is created 
for — movement. Sometimes this motion is 
impeded; sometimes it ceases altogether. 
Strains and injuries of various nature induce 
inflammatory action, forming adhesions or 



70 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

producing thickening of the component parts 
of the joints. This is one form of obstruction. 

The result is disease disorder. But this 

obstruction in itself is not necessarily a ser- 
ious condition. The stiffness of a single joint 
of the spine need not interfere with much 
bodily activity. The bending of the spine is 
not an absolutely essential element in life. 
But passing between adjacent vertebrae are 
two nerves, one on either side, the media 
through which is transmitted the energy gov- 
erning other and often much more important 
functions. As the joint becomes restricted, 
ligaments around it contract and harden, ex- 
cretions infiltrate the tissues and disturb or 
decrease the size of the passage in which the 
nerves lie to such an extent that all nerve 
energy may there be dissipated. The or- 
gan supplied by such nerve, therefore, be- 
comes inactive — its function ceases and its 
individual life is impaired. Again, since the 
spinal cord receives its blood supply — nutri- 
tion — through these same openings, most 
serious damage may result from a lack of 
blood there and a consequently starved ner- 
vous system. 

Impaired motion of the spinal joints and 
the accompanying hindrance to the spinal 
cord circulation are not the only obstructions 
that may exist. Strains and contractions of 
musoles often cause various irregularities of 
the joints. A single verterbra may be " slip- 
ped' ' to the side (of course only slightly, 
otherwise severing the cord or causing a 



FROM AN OSTEOPATHIC VIEWPOINT 71 



pressure upon it sufficient to produce paraly- 
sis at that point), a rotation may exist, or 
a slip or rotation of a series of vertebrae — 
thereby irritating, directly or indirectly, the 
nerves passing from the spinal cord, by draw- 
ing tight the vertebral ligaments. 

Thus far, it has been the aim of the writ- 
er to make plain one form of "lesion" — 
"perverted structure which by pressure or 
other irritation produces or maintains func- 
tional disorder." It is not the intention so to 
confine the subject. There are other forms of 
lesion, many of them; but to go into detail 
with each class, since the principle is gener- 
ally applicable, is useless. 

The osteopathic viewpoint, therefore, is 
based in general upon the principal that 
"structure (anatomical relations) determines 
function." Health exists when there is har- 
mony in structure. Disease follows disorder- 
ed relations; or disease is the result of (First) 
structural derangement which inevitably pro- 
duces (Second) perverted or suspended 
function. (The writer is aware that abuse 
may modify function thereby originating 
pathological conditions, but that phase of the 
subject cannot be considered in the brief 
space allowed for this subject.) 

Osteopathic therapeutics, therefore, de- 
pend upon the mechanical principle of adjust- 
ment of structure. It contemplates that the 
bodily functions are maintained by the har- 
monious, unrestricted action of all parts. The 
presence of disease indicates primarily struc- 



72 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tural derangement — interference with the 
free action of the vital forces. To locate this 
derangement, together with a consideration of 
all its associated consequences constitutes the 
substance of the Osteopath's diagnosis. Then, 
his therapeutics is an adjustment, by manual 
operations, of that abnormal structure, adapt- 
ed to the individual condition and varying ac- 
cording to the particular needs. When this 
adjustment is secured, by the removal of the 
obstruction and a consequent liberation of 
nerve energy — a restoration to normal func- 
tion — nature rebuilds or restores the weaken- 
ed tissue. 

Nature always tends toward the normal 
so long as she has freedom of action. Her 
power to do this is inherent. There is no ex- 
ternal force which will supply her demands in 
artificial doses. She needs no tonic or stim- 
ulant — no whip. All that is required is the 
freedom of action with which she was origin- 
ally endowed by an all-wise Creator. 



What Osteopathic 
Lesions Are 



{Reprinted front the Stillonan) 
From Notes on a Lecture Delivered to the Stillonians. 



Man, the most complex, intricate and delicately con- 
structed machine of all creation, is the one with 
which the Osteopath must become familiar. 

— A. T. Still 



Osteopathy is the practical knowledge 
of how man is made and how to 
right him when he gets wrong. 

—A. T. Still 



What Osteopathic Lesions Are 

By G. M. Laughlin, M. S. D., D. O. 

FEOM an osteopathic point of view, a les- 
ion is any abnormality of structure 
which interferes with function. Do not 
get the idea that these lesions are great big 
things, that there must be a dislocated verte- 
bra or rib, or a spinal curvature or some great 
abnormality in order to constitute a lesion. 
There are comparatively few lesions of that 
kind. When there is the least particle of ab- 
normality of position of spinal structure or 
when there is a change in the relation of 
bones, ligaments and muscles, these condi- 
tions constitute lesions. We may have a ro- 
tation of a vertebra and that is a lesion; we 
may have a curvature of the spine and that is 
a lesion; we may have a straight spine and 
that is a lesion; a rigid spine, hardened or 
tensed muscles all constitute lesions. They 
are all lesions because they are abnormal 
structural conditions and interfere with the 
origin and transmission of nerve force. 

We must recognize that the nervous 
structure is the master structure; nerve tissue 
the master tissue. When there is any thing 
wrong with the nerve impulses, some disturb- 
ance of function is going to occur. You all 
know that the nervous system is very much 
like an electric-light plant. The impulses or- 



76 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

iginating in the central portion of the nervous 
system, the brain and spinal cord, are trans- 
mitted all over the body. The brain is the 
dynamo, the nerve fibers are the wires. In the 
electric-plant, if the dynamo should get out of 
fix, we could have no light ; so if something is 
wrong with the nutrition to the brain or spi- 
nal cord, the impulses will not be normal. If 
the wires are broken or short circuited, the 
light goes out ;so with the nervous system, if 
the nerves are impinged upon or irritated, of 
course there will be interference with func- 
tion — the impulses will not be normal. 

In order to have good digestion, good 
elimination, etc., we must have the proper dis- 
tribution of nerve force and no interference 
with the nerves after they leave the central 
nervous system. Any of the lesions spoken of 
might interfere with the nutrition to the cen- 
tral system where the nerve cells are located. 
The spinal cord and brain must be nourished 
with good blood. The blood carries nutrition 
from the gastro-intestinal tract to the central 
nervous system. If there is any interference 
to the blood supply on account of spinal les- 
ions, the nervous impulses will be weak and 
the individual will not have good health, 
Wherever there is a lesion, there is obstruc- 
tion; interference with the intervertebral for- 
amini, interference with the vaso-motor ner- 
ves which control circulation and interference 
with the central nervous system. 

We find the principal cause for most of 
our chronic ailments to be either reduction of 



WHAT OSTEOPATHIC LESIONS ARE 77 



vitality at the nerve center due to interfer- 
ence with nutrition or some mechanical inter- 
ference with the nerves themselves. 

All lesions found along the spine do not 
result from injury or trauma. Some do, of 
course, but most of them come on slowly; 
not in a day or a week and not because we 
step into a hole or fall. Most of them come on 
slowly and may be two, three, four, five or 
even twenty years in developing. Then how 
did they come about f Trauma is one cause, 
overwork, exposure and many times infec^ 
tious diseases, where the individual is ex- 
tremely ill for a period of time ; all these are 
causative factors which will produce a warp- 
ing and twisting of the spinal column and 
bring about mal-adjustment. Chronic dis- 
eases come on as a result of these slowly de- 
veloping lesions. 

In practically all cases where there is les- 
ion, there is limitation of motion. The ques- 
tion is sometimes asked, "How are lesions 
maintained V 9 I have made the statement 
that we do not have complete dislocation in 
order to have lesion, but limitation of motion 
which interferes with nutrition to the ner- 
vous system. As the lesion develops, the ab- 
normal position produces a local irritation 
or inflammation. New tissue forms about the 
site of the lesion causing adhesions at that 
point and as these adhesions thicken, the 
ligaments and muscles lose their elasticity, 
stiffen and harden, maintaining the lesion. 

In chronic diseases, by breaking up the 



78 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

adhesions, where there is fibrous tissue form- 
ed; by the establishment of motion, where 
motion is indicated, and by the correction of 
structure, we remove the interference to the 
nutrition to the nervous system so that im- 
pulses may be properly originated and prop- 
erly transmitted and the organs perform 
their normal functions. 



Manner of Treatment 



Find it, fix it and leave it alone. 

— A. 7. Still 



Osteopathic treatment is scientific in 
that it recognizes the relation between 
cause and effect in disease, and seeks 
to remove the cause rather than to 
treat the symptoms-^the effects of the 
disease. 

—Orren E. Smith, D. 0. 



Manner of Treatment 

By G. V. Webster, D. O. 

THE object of osteopathic manipulation® 
being largely to adjust the bony struc- 
tures of the body to their proper rela- 
tive position for the purpose of removing in- 
terference to the physiological action of or- 
gans and to promote the cure of disease, 
the manner of procedure is of interest. 

The first consideration is the establish- 
ment of a correct diagnosis of the pathologi- 
cal condition, to which end the usual methods 
of physical and laboratory diagnosis may be 
employed. Having located the seat of the 
pathological condition and the extent of or- 
ganic changes in the tissues of the body as 
far as possible, the next step is the analysis 
of the cause which might have led to the 
perverted functioning or to the organic 
change, determining whether motion, sensa- 
tion or nutrition be interfered with. The ave- 
nues of travel for the impulses controlling 
each of these functions that may be found dis- 
turbed are then searched for possible cause 
of interruptions to the normal movement of 
such impulses, or for reflexes that might di- 
vert or augment them. The nerves and blood 
vessels being seldom subject to abnormal 
pressure while passing through the softer 
tissues of the body, it is but reasonable to sup- 



82 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

pose that the most likely point of mechanical 
interference is at some point where they come 
into relation with the denser structures 
of the body. It is then the duty of the Osteo- 
path to examine closely the relation of the 
vertebrae, ribs, innominates, etc., to find the 
exact point or points of interference to the 
forces that present evidence of disordered 
physiological action in the case at hand. In 
this the osteopathic method is peculiar, in- 
dividual and distinct from all other methods 
of examination. The usual physical examin- 
ation for the determination of the organ func- 
tioning improperly, guides the Osteopath to 
certain definite points along the spine where 
the nerves controlling that function center 
and, on the other hand, should the Osteopath 
make the spinal examination first his findings 
of structural deviations there would, accord- 
ing to their location, indicate to him more or 
less accurately the organs whose functions 
are disturbed. 

So much for the diagnosis, and having 
established the same both pathologically and 
osteopathically, the Osteopath proceeds to 
treat the case along osteopathic lines in ac- 
cordance with the findings, or he may refer 
the case to the best means available for the 
care of the conditions, whether it be surgical, 
institutional or otherwise, as may be indicat- 
ed. 

Proceeding with the osteopathic treat- 
ment, for that concerns us most at this point, 
the patient, dressed in clothing that will per- 



MANNER OF TREATMENT 83 

mit of freedom of motion to the spine and ex- 
tremities, occupies a sitting or reclining pos- 
ture that will afford the greatest ease of op- 
eration for the physician and will allow mus- 
cular relaxation of the parts to be adjusted. 
The Osteopath uses his hands to make the ad- 
justments. From his knowledge of the struc- 
tures of the body and the relation of the parts 
under operation, he chooses a point to be used 
for a fulcrum, while the leverage necessary to 
place the structures in their proper relative 
position is usually obtained by the use as a 
lever of one or more of the bones adjacent to 
the point of lesion, or structural abnormality, 
which is the object of his attention. Not so 
much force as skill is required to bring about 
the adjustment desired. Each particular les- 
ion requires a certain definite fulcrum or ful- 
crums and a certain definite lever or lever- 
ages used singly or successively to move the 
structures to their normal position. 

The technique of each osteopathic ad- 
justment is exceedingly complex and difficult 
of proper execution, requiring, as it does, a 
highly sensitive touch, complete knowledge 
of the structures and their physiological rela- 
tions at the seat of the operation, judgment as 
to the placing of the fulcrum and the choice 
of levers, asquaintance with the laws of me- 
chanics governing the use of levers, consider- 
ation as to the amount of energy necessary to 
operate the levers used to bring about adjust- 
ment without producing pain or discomfort 
for the patient. All these and more the os- 



84 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

teopathic physician must bring to bear with 
skill upon each problem of adjustment that he 
attempts to solve. Every movement that the 
physician makes during each manipulative 
procedure is done with a certain definite end 
in view according to the needs presented by 
the situation. Nothing is done by rote, the 
individual case requires definite and specific 
treatment, whether it be to secure the adjust- 
ment of one vertebra or a dozen that may be 
out of normal position. 

The question is often asked how many 
treatments, corrections or attempts to correct 
a given lesion, may be necessary before it will 
remain in normal position, and it is a very dif- 
ficult question to answer, there being so many 
factors concerned in the cause and maintain- 
ance of these structural perversions. Practi- 
cally speaking, each case is a law unto itself. 
A single correction, which being afterwards 
maintained, has given Osteopathy many a 
glorious victory over disease. On the other 
hand, in old curvatures for instance, where 
there is change in form as well as in position 
of the vertebrae, no number of attempts at 
correction could be crowned with perfect suc- 
cess. Often the ligaments about the lesion 
have thickened as the result of inflammatory 
changes, just as they do about any sprained 
joint, in which case the Osteopath is confront- 
ed with a problem that will take time and re- 
peated efforts at correction to successfully 
solve. Other things being equal, the relief of 
factional disturbance or the benefit given or- 



MANNER OF TREATMENT 85 

ganic disease is usually in direct proportion 
to the degree of success obtained in the cor- 
rection of the lesions, provided, of course, 
that the organic changes have not progressed 
beyond all possibility of help from natural 
sources. 

The length of time necessary for a treat- 
ment varies according to the needs of the case 
at hand, and the dispatch with which the phy- 
sician is able to recognize such need and ap- 
ply suitable remedial measures. In a case 
presenting a single twisted rib that is mani- 
festly the sole source of functional disorder, it 
would be folly to spend time in going through 
motions about the other ribs. The single rib 
might be adjusted in a minute or two. On the 
other hand, it would be equally as unwise to 
confine the attentions to one rib when several 
ribs or vertebrae are concerned in the lesion. 
Here again each case is a law unto itself and 
the judgment of the practitioner must inter- 
pret the law. 

There are those who are burdened with 
the idea that osteopathic treatment is stren- 
uous, rough and painful, and from certain 
quarters this idea is encouraged by state- 
ments to the effect that only the strong can 
withstand the treatment. However, the truth 
is that the treatments are gauged to meet the 
needs of the patient whether it be a babe, a 
feeble old person or an athlete. Here is where 
the Osteopath's judgment is called into play 
to meet the condition of the patient, as is a 
medical physician's judgment in the choice of 



86 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

dosage. Even the most skillful operator can- 
not promise to work always without diseoxn 
fort or pain to his patient, but if he is con- 
scientious, he will accomplish the end desir- 
ed with the least possible discomfort to his 
patient. Points that are extremely sensitive 
to the touch because of the conditions inci- 
dent to the lesion or areas of inflammation, 
are treated indirectly so that the pain of 
treatment is minimized, but most osteopathic 
procedures are not necessarily associated 
with pain. 

With regard to the frequency of treat- 
ment for the individual case, this too is a law 
unto itself. In acute conditions several treat- 
ments within twenty-four hours may be indi- 
cated. Others may require treatment daily, 
and from that to once weekly or only occas- 
ionally, according as the need may be appar- 
ent. 

Another question frequently asked is 
concerning the corrections and the permanen- 
cy of the results of osteopathic work. Here 
nature assists the physician with a tendency 
to maintain normal structural and functional 
conditions. While the same circumstances 
that produced the lesions in the first place 
may operate to produce the same again, yet 
with the tendency being toward the normal 
and the patient instructed to avoid possible 
repetition in the action of the forces that pro- 
duced the lesion, the results are largely of a 
permanent nature, the improvement being 
both specific and constitutional. 



A Differentiation 



Differences Between Osteopathy and Massage 
—A. T. Still, M. D., D. O. 
An Illustration—- Asa Williard, D. O. 



The Osteopath's business is to know the plumbing of 
the house of life. 

—A. T. SHU 



Merely to be able to manipulate no 
more constitutes an Osteopath than 
the ability to hold a knife makes a 
surgeon. 

—Percy H. Woodall, D. 0. 



Differences Between Osteo- 
pathy and Massage 

By A. T. Still M. D., D. O. 

(Reprinted by permission from the Ladies" Home Journal) 

OSTEOPATHY absolutely differs from 
massage. The definition of ' ' Massage ' y 
is masso, to knead: shampooing of the 
body by special manipulations, such as 
kneading, tapping, stroking, etc. The mas- 
seur rubs and kneads the muscles to increase 
the circulation. The Osteopath never rubs. 
He takes off any pressure on blood-vessels or 
nerves by the adjustment of any displace- 
ment, whether it be of a bone, cartilage, liga- 
ment, tendon, muscle, or even of the fascia 
which enfolds all structures; also by relaxing 
any contracture of muscle or ligament due to 
displacements, to drafts causing colds, to 
overwork or nerve exhaustion. The Osteo- 
path knows the various nerve-centers and how 
to treat them, in order that the vaso-motor 
nerves can act upon the blood-vessels, bring- 
ing about in a physiological manner a normal 
heart-action and freeing up the channels to 
and from the heart. The Osteopath deals al- 
ways with causes, has no " rules of ■action," as 
such, but applies reason to each case accord- 
ing to the conditions presented, treating no 



90 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

two cases quite alike. He knows from past 
experience that the effect seen is produced by 
a cause with which he must deal in order to 
give relief. 

The Osteopath is a physician. The mas- 
seur does not take the responsibility of the 
full charge of a diseased condition, but works 
under the direction of a physician, and has to 
do with effects, applying by rote to the body 
so much rubbing, so much stroking, so much 
tapping, so much kneading, etc., there being 
definite rules laid down applicable to general 
cases. 

Osteopathy is a science and an art also. 
It includes a knowledge of anatomy, biology 
physiology, chemistry and pathology. Its 
therapeutics are independent and original, 
and as extensive as the entire medical and sur- 
gical fields. 



AN ILLUSTRATION 

By Asa WiHiard, D. O. 

( Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy ) 

A barber and a surgeon both work on the 
body with sharp instruments, yet their 
work is different. A Homeopath is not 
an Allopath because they both use drugs. 
There is a difference between the stone mason 
and the sculptor. The masseur uses his hands 
in his work ; so does the Osteopath, and there 
the comparison ends. 



A DIFFERENTIATION 91 

Massage is a system of movements, cer- 
tain slappings, rubbings and squeezings, done 
by rote and learned in a few months. An Os- 
teopath is a trained physician seeking out the 
cause and removing it. The masseur finds a 
limb congested or badly nourished and goes 
about rubbing and squeezing to stir up the 
stagnant circulation. You could do this in the 
case of the arm which has gone to sleep be- 
cause it has been hanging over the back of the 
chair, or the leg because it has been crossed, 
but only temporary relief would be afforded if 
the limb is not moved in such a manner that 
the pressure upon the nerves and blood ves- 
sels is removed. The Osteopath would seek 
out the point where obstruction exists to 
these nerve and blood currents, remove that 
obstruction and open the channel. This done, 
he reasons that the heart will propel the 
blood, and that the nervous system will attend 
to its distribution in a normal manner. He 
stretches muscles when necessary; he relaxes 
ligaments and adjusts to their normal rela- 
tions bones, cartilages and other dense struc- 
tures, but he does not stroke and rub the sur- 
face. 



The basic principle of Osteopathy is the 
basic principle that runs through all nature. 
Adjustment is the basic principle of every 
science. Osteopathy is a Science. It main- 
tains the same relationship to the great fam- 
ily of science that every other science does. 
It bears the finger markings of the Omnipo- 
tent and Eternal God. 

The ' ' Old Doctor ' ' once said to me that 
life is intelligent wherever you find it; whe- 
ther in the tree or in the flesh, there is a force 
that goes to work at once to "fix" the ab- 
rasion in the most intelligent way. This 
force is life. Life is the great healing agent 
of God's universe. It is in every living cell 
in the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. 

The basic principle of Osteopathy is ad- 
justment. 

The mechanics of Osteopathy is adjust- 
ing. 

The theory of Osteopathy is that, if the 
adjustment is made, Life, the great healing 
agent, will repair as far as possible all 
damages. 

-H. J- Everly, T>. O. 

( Journal of Osteopathy') 



Scientific Proofs of 
Osteopathy 



The scientist is only an ignorant man well fed with 
experience. 

—A. T. SHU 



I have found and repeatedly demon- 
strated that the body is a machine and 
can vindicate all its claims for health in 
the hands of the man or woman who 
knows the normal and the abnormal. 
— A. T. Still. 



Scientific Proofs of Osteopathy 

By G. V. Webster, D. O. 



DE. Still has been described as, "the orig- 
inal citizen of Missouri to demnad vis- 
ual demonstration.' ' He applied the 
''Show me" test to the theories of medicine 
and to his own theories of treatment as well. 
He was always searching for demonstrable 
evidence of the scientific value of any theory. 
That which stood the test was retained as 
truth; that which failed in the test was reject- 
ed. 

From the first announcement of the os- 
teopathic theory, there have been those who 
have poo-poohed the idea of structural per- 
version being responsible for disease. Their 
conception of structural derangements was 
limited to gross dislocations of the joints. 
They could neither recognize nor conceive 
that it was possible for minor displacements 
of the structures of the body to occur. That 
such should be a controlling factor in disease 
was to them absurd. 

Such evidences as have been gathered by 
trained observers point unerringly to the sup- 
port of the principles of Osteopathy as ad- 
vanced by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. These 
scientific observations include those made in 
the clinics, in the anatomical and experiment- 



96 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

al laboratories of the several osteopathic col- 
leges, and the observations and experiments 
at the A. T. Still Research Institute in Chica- 
go, besides the work of many individuals in 
private practice. 

The evidence gathered in the clinics 
shows that a group of symptoms in an individ- 
ual which is recognized as a disease is with 
great unifority secondary to certain structur- 
al deviations, usually of the ribs or vertebrae, 
which are anatomically associated with the 
parts in which the symptom or symptoms are 
manifest. 

Examination and graphic tracings of 
spinal structural relationships reveal that cer- 
tain definite alterations of the normal rela- 
tionships are associated with the disorders in 
the organs anatomically associated with that 
portion of the spine where such alterations oc- 
cur. The readjustment of the structural re- 
lationships is followed by relief of the func- 
tional disturbances — the symptoms. 

In the hundreds of dissections of bodies 
that have been made in the anatomical labora- 
tories at osteopathic colleges, observations 
have been made and recorded of existing al- 
tered relationships in the framework of the 
body which, it could be demonstrated, inter- 
ferred with the blood or nerve supply of or- 
gans that were found to be diseased. The same 
points have been observed and recorded at au- 
topsies. 

The X-ray has repeatedly been able to 
present on the photographic plate a record of 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY &7 

the faulty position of some of the ribs and ver- 
tebrae constituting an osteopathic lesion, 
when the same condition escaped the tactile 
sense of those not accustomed to spinal palpa- 
tion. In numerous instances the X-ray has 
shown such parts in correct relationship after 
adjustment by osteopathic treatment. The 
X-ray, then, is a scientific proof of Osteo- 
pathy. 

Besides the clinical evidences, the spin- 
al tracings, the dissections and the X-ray 
findings, various animal experiments have 
been conducted by several competent observ- 
ers over a period of about ten years. These 
experiments have all tended to prove the os- 
teopathic theory that spinal strains, curva- 
tures and slight displacements affect thB 
nerves and blood vessels of the organs to 
which the nerves are distributed. 

The spinal lesions experimentally pro- 
duced in the animals were not accomplished 
by violence. With the animal relaxed under 
anesthesia, slight displacements were made 
by pressure and rotation without greater 
force than a child might receive in play and 
immediately forget. After being under ob- 
servation for varying periods of time, up to 
several months, the animals were killed and 
careful examinations made of the site of les- 
ion, the associated nerves and the organs to 
which the nerves were distributed. In every 
series of cases in which experimental evi- 
dence was thus sought for the support of the 
osteopathic theory, the nerves showed con 



&8 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

gestion and inflammation at the site of the 
Lesion, and the organs they supplied gave ev- 
idence of congestion, inflammation and dis- 
ordered functions. An account of some of 
the results obtained by animal experiments 
follows: 

Dr. McConnell's Experiments 

Dr. C. P. McConnell has experimented 
upon healthy dogs, producing slight dis- 
placements of the vertebrae and ribs and 
studying the effects produced. The follow- 
is a summary of the results announced in the 
first twelve cases: 

"In nine of the twelve cases, inflani- 
• mation of the nerves at the seat of the 
lesion was noticed and in one a nervous 
degeneration was manifest. In each case 
the diseased organs observed were under 
the control of the nerves coming off from 
that part of the spinal column in which 
the lesion was made. 

Dog 1. — Showed a stricture of the 
small intestine. 

Dogs 2 and 3. — Had spleens very 
much enlarged. 

Dogs 3 and 4. — Became very sick. 

Dog 5. — Lost flesh rapidly. 

Dog 6. — Dissection showed an in- 
flamed area in the stomach and an en- 
larged spleen. 

Dog 7. — Became blind. 

Dog 8. — Became blind. 

Dog 10. — Developed goitre. 

Dog 11. — Dissection showed hemor- 
rhagic inflammation of the kidneys. 

Dog 12. — Died in three days with 
hemorrhage of the intestines. 

Thus the osteopathic lesion theory 
has been demonstrated. First by the cure 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY 93 

of disease by the removal of lesions. Sec- 
ond by causing disease by producing 
lesions." — Journal of Osteopathy, May, 
1906. 

Since the exp 6111116111; s referred to above, 
Dr. McConnell and his associates have con- 
ducted experiments along similar lines on 
several hundred animals, gaining therefrom 
further scientific evidences of the effects of 
bony lesions in the production of disease. 

His latest series of experiments have 
been relative to the influence of the specific 
spinal lesion as a causative factor in goitre. 

The statistics covered about eight hun- 
dred cases of goitre in man and the experi- 
ments made upon twenty animals. Nine dogs 
having goitre were treated specifically. All 
showed reduction in size of the thyroid gland 
some of the cases reaching normal. Twtf 
cases kept, as controls, under the same hy- 
gienic conditions did not show improvement. 
Nine dogs having normal thyroids were les- 
ioned specifically and six thus lesioned devel- 
oped goitre. This proves, both by the cure of 
goitre in humans and dogs by the correction 
of lesions and by the development of goitre 
in dogs following the experimental produc- 
tion of lesions, the scientific basis for the os- 
teopathic theory relative to the cause of goi- 
tre being the faulty mechanical relationships 
of certain vertebrae associated with the 
nerve supply to the thryoid gland. 
Dr. Louisa Burns* Experiments 

Dr. Louisa Burns conducted a series of 
experiments at the laboratory of the Pacific 



100 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

College of Osteopathy to determine the imme- 
diate effects of bony lesions. The experi- 
ments were conducted upon animals and hu- 
man subjects. The animals used for the pur- 
pose were cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and white 
rats. In every case the animal was given an 
anesthetic and none were ever permitted to 
regain consciousness after once losing it. No 
anesthetic was given the human subjects. 
These were intelligent men and women in 
good health and ignorant of the nature of 
the reaction to be expected from the experi- 
ment. 

The experiments included lesions of the 
vertebrae, careful note being made of the im- 
mediate effects of the lesions experimentally 
produced. Cases were excluded from consid- 
eration where there was any doubt as to the 
lesion or any of the observations. One in- 
stance of lesion, namely, the ninth and tenth 
dorsal vertebrae, is here given to illustrate 
the effects repeatedly observed. 

Animal tests showed that lesions of these 
vertebrae were followed by lessened peristal- 
ic movement of the stomach and intestines; 
dilatation of the blood vessels of the stom- 
ach, intestines and pancreas; increase in the 
size of the spleen; accumulation of gas in the 
intestines, and sometimes the peristalio 
movement of the intestines was reversed. In 
some cases, after the lesion had been main- 
tained for some time, bile was found in the 
stomach. 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY 101 



The human tests showed that lesions of 
these vertebrae produced a lowering of the 
blood pressure, increased reaction time, noi- 
ses of moving gas in the intestine and a sense 
of sleepiness. The accumulation of gas in the 
intestines sometimes caused discomfort, but 
there were no symptoms of nervousness or 
headache that appeared, although these dis- 
comforts were present when the lesions of the 
vertebrae higher up in the spine were exper- 
imentally produced. 

The clinic records show that the diseases 
associated with lesions of these vertebrae are 
inflammation and dilatation of the stomach, 
inflammation of the colon, congestion of the 
spleen, catarrhal jaundice, and constipation. 

The tests were carefully conducted and 
the recorded observations add scientific proof 
to the osteopathic theory. 

Dr. Louisa Burns is now at the A. T. Still 
Research Institute in Chicago where she is 
conducting several interesting series of inves- 
tigations concerning the relationship of les- 
ions to various diseases. She has thus sum- 
marized the scientific proofs of Osteopathy in 
the Journal of Osteopathy: 

"If the work of Dr. Still had includ- 
ed nothing more than the recognition of 
the relation between mal-adjustment of 
bones and other tissues to certain forms 
of disease, this alone is enough to place 
him first among discoverers in the field 
of medicine during the nineteenth cen- 
tury. That these slight misplacements, 
called "bony lesions," do act as*, efficient 
factors in the production of abnormal 
function is proven by the facts: 



102 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 



1. The examination of patients suf- 
fering from disease not due to local in- 
jury shows that there are bony lesions 
affecting the regions most closely asso- 
ciated with the nerve centers controlling 
the organs which are abnormal. 

2. The examination of people in 
fairly good health may show that tnere 
are bony lesions affecting the nerve cen- 
ters in certain parts of their bodies. In such 
cases it is found either that they are sub- 
ject to mal-function of such organs, or it 
will be found later that these organs are 
more subject to infection, etc., than the 
rest of the body. 

3. In persons who are sick, and in 
whom the bony lesion is found, the cor- 
rection of the lesion is followed by a re- 
lief of the symptoms; and if there has 
been no destruction of the tissue, by re- 
turn to health. 

4. The examination of cadavers 
frequently shows the existence of bony 
lesions, and of abnormal visceral condi- 
tions associated with the related nerve 
centers. 

5. Slight and temporary bony les- 
ions, experimentally produced upon hu- 
man subjects, give rise to those changes 
in the pressure and circulation of the 
blood which initiate the beginnings of 
disease and the lowering of vitality. 

6. Bony lesions experimentally pro- 
duced upon animals are followed by cir- 
culatory and functional changes of the 
organs in closest central connection with 
them, and these changes are to be pre- 
dicted from the location of the lesions 
produced. In anesthetised animals, the 
changes may be watched as they follow 
the production of the lesion. 

The physiological effects of the bony 
lesions upon the visceral, vascular and 
skeletal muscles and the glands of the 
body are explained by the anatomical re- 
lationships of these structures." 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY 103 

Dr. Whiting's Experiments 

Dr. C. A. Whiting conducted a series of 
experiments on the influence of osteopathic 
manipulations upon the germ destroying 
power of the blood. In a letter he summed 
up the results of his work as follows : 

"Of the little I have done, the most 
important seems to me to be the demon- 
stration of the increase of phayocytosis 
(destruction of germs) as the result of 
mechanical stimulation. I feel quite safe 
in asserting that phagocytosis is increased 
to marked degree by physical stimula- 
tion. In the early days of opsonic work, 
our drug friends believed that the only 
way in which phagocytic powers of the 
blood could be increased was by the 
use of some vaccine. I feel quite certain, 
as the result of a considerable num- 
ber of experiments, that we get the same 
result by mechanical stimulation of the 
liver, spleen, etc. If this belief is true, 
it is of great value to the physician, for 
not only does it guide him in his treat- 
ment, but it saves him from the necessity 
of introducing foreign serums into the 
body." 

Dr. Deason's Experiments 

Dr. J. Deason at the laboratories of the 
American School and at the A. T. Still Re- 
search Institute has been able to demonstrate 
in a scientific manner, by a large number of 
animal experiments, many of the practical 
workings of the osteopathic idea. Among the 
results secured with positive evidence by ani- 
mal experimentation may be mentioned: 

That lesion of the spine affects the func- 



104 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

of the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and is often a 
controlling factor in the production of dia- 
betes: 

That spinal manipulations with fixation 
produce marked effects on the functional ac- 
tivity of the internal organs : 

That lesions by nervous reflex cause dis- 
turbances in distant organs: 

That lesions in the mid-dorsal region of 
the spine influence the secretions of the stom- 
ach and intestines : 

That abnormal action of the intestines 
can be caused and ended by manipulation: 

That certain manipulative work upon 
the spine causes certain definite changes in 
the blood pressure: 

That the secretions of the liver and kid- 
neys can be increased by manipulation. 

These are some of the practical results of 
the research work along experimental lines 
which Dr. Deason has been able to demon- 
strate in a scientific manner. In the next 
chapter Dr. Deason gives a summary of the 
work of the Eesearch Institute. 

To review in a word the scientific efforts 
made to test the claims of Osteopathy, we find 
that clinic records,spinal tracings,dissections, 
autopsies, the X-ray, and animal experimen- 
tation each contribute their share of demon- 
strable evidence in support of the theory of 
Osteopathy that structural abnormal ties are 
a fundamental cause of disease and that the 
cure of disease is accomplished by the remov- 
al of the cause, i. e., by structural adjust- 
ment. 



A Summary of Osteopathic 
Research Work 



(Special Article by J. Deason, M. S. t D. 0.) 



O Lord, grease our heals with the oil of energy that 
we may slip forward a little. Keep all grease from 
our toes; we want them dry and sharp so they will 
hold fast to every inch of progress our greasy heels 
have gained for us. 

—A. T. Still 



An Osteopath should never speak un- 
til he knows he has found and can 
demonstrate the truth he claims to know. 

—A. T, Still 



A Summary of Osteopathic 
Research Work 

By J. Deason, M. S., D. O. 

Director of the A. T. Still Research Institute 



DURING the past five years while teach- 
ing in the American School of Osteo- 
pathy and since coming to the A. T. 
Still Research Institute, by the aid of a num- 
ber of assistants, we have been studying the 
principles of Osteopathy experimentally, and 
have, we think, determined some things of 
real value. 

In much of our work we have used ani- 
mals, monkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea 
pigs for the purpose of studying the results 
of osteopathic lesions. The animals are first 
normalized by keeping them under perfectly 
normal conditions for a number of weeks or 
months, and are observed very carefully. 
They are then lesioned by placing them un- 
der complete ether anesthesia and producing 
a sublaxation in the spine. After this they 
are again carefully observed for a number of 
weeks or months and the results recorded. 
Only those animals are used for such work 
which are found to be entirely normal in ev- 
ery respect. After the animal has developed 
some disease or perverted physiological con- 
dition from the results of the lesion produc- 



108 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

ed, it is killed by means of ether or chloro- 
form and a careful study both macroscopic 
and microscopic is made of the various bod- 
ily tissues. 

By this method of study we have found 
that nearly every organ of the body can be 
influenced by the effects of bony lesions (sub- 
luxations) in different parts of the spine. 
Such resulting conditions as abnormal phy- 
siological action and pathological changes of 
the stomach, liver, intestines, kidneys, spleen, 
pancreas, adrenals, etc., have been positively 
demonstrated many times. A detailed ac- 
count of this work would require too much 
space and would be uninteresting to anyone 
other than the physician or experimental 
scientist. The results of this work on about 
one thousand animals confirms the findings 
of Drs. Burns, McOonnell, Whiting and oth- 
ers who have done similar work. 

The experimental work on dogs shows 
that the kidneys and liver can be affected me- 
chanically. By osteopathic manipulation of 
the spine, it was shown that production of ur- 
ine by the kidneys could be greatly increas- 
ed. In some eases the increase amounted to 
more than one hundred present. Since the 
kidneys are the filters of the blood it may be 
seen that the elimination of toxic substances 
from the blood may be accomplished by os- 
teopathic methods. This has been put to 
practical test by many osteopathic physicians 
since the results of the experimental work 




h 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY 109 

were published and has proven to be of ac- 
tual practical value. 

Similarly it was shown that the func- 
tional activities of the liver could be controll- 
ed. By measuring the amount of bile 
(counting the drops and by weighing) se- 
creted in a definite time and then manipulat- 
ing the segments of the spine from which 
segment of the spinal cord the nerves origin- 
ate, which supply the liver, it was found that 
not only the amount was increased, but that 
it was higher in specific gravity. Thus we 
have definite evidence of the value of osteo- 
pathic therapy on the functions of the liver. 

When any animals chosen for this work 
failed to normalize, i. e., if they were not 
found to be in perfect health in every way, 
they were not used but were treated osteo- 
pathioally, and in most cass we were able to 
normalize such animals after this treatment. 
Our work on filariasis in monkeys is an in- 
teresting example of this. Fourteen months 
ago we received two dozen monkeys which 
had recently been imported from the tropics. 
All but one were found to be affected with 
filariasis, a disease somewhat similar to 
sleeping-sickness, caused by an animal 
parasite. Two animals died before the 
cause was discovered. The affected mon- 
keys were then divided into two groups. 
Seven were treated by the best known 
medical methods and fourteen were treat- 
ed osteopathically. Of the seven treated 
by medical methods all died. Of the fourteen 



110 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

treated osteopathically, ten recovered. We 
kept a few of these to determine whether the 
recovery was temporary or permanent. As 
yet none have shown any further signs of the 
disease but have grown much larger and 
stronger which shows that the cures are both 
complete and permanent. 

It will be seen that our work differs from 
the work of most research workers in that 
we are studying the natural methods by 
means of which parasitic and bacterial dis- 
ease can be cured rather than the methods of 
producing disease in animals and then treat- 
ing the results by vaccines, serums, etc. 

Another part of our work consists of 
making a more thorough and careful study of 
human anatomy by dissections. It has been 
our purpose to dissect in such a way as to de- 
termine how we can best reach certain or- 
gans by manipulation and therefore correcet 
abnormalities. This work has also resulted 
in gaining some valuable information. As an 
example of this we may cite the new method 
of treating catarrhal deafness. It was found 
that the pharyngeal opening of the eustachian 
tube (the tube which leads from the middle 
ear to the pharynx) was frequently closed by 
catarrhal inflammation of the nose and throat 
and that deafness and ringing in the ears 
might be a result. It was Dr. J. D. Edwards, 
then a student in my classes, who put this in- 
formation to practical test and it was he who 
did most to bring it before our profession. 
During the past two or three years we have 



SCIENTIFIC PROOFS OF OSTEOPATHY 111 



been working together on this problem and 
now several of our physicians are successful 
ly applying this technique in practice. While 
we have not as yet studied our cases sufficient? 
ly to know the exact percentage of cures, I 
believe that it is safe to say that we get favor- 
able results in at least eighty percent of cases 
of catarrhal deafness. 

Another part of our work has been the 
study by means of bacteriological methods of 
vaccines and serums and their effects. W6 
want it to be definitely understood that Os 2 
teopathy as a profession or as a school of 
practice takes no stand for or against vaccin- 
ation or serum therapy or any method of 
treating disease the value of which has been 
demonstrated. Our physicians, however^ 
have not been taken by the serum craze as 
has the medical profession, and this is because 
we are not without a reasonable and natural 
method of therapy. 

The results of our study of small-pox vac- 
cine showed that there was no such material 
on the market which did not contain various 
living bacteria which were dangerous. From 
specimens of such virus prepared by two of 
the best known manufacturers in America we 
isolated more than thirty different kinds of 
bacteria, eighteen of which were pathogenie 
or disease producing bacteria. For the re- 
sults of this work in detail we cite the reader 
to the Journal of Osteopathy, issues of March, 
April, May and June 1911. 

Some of our most recent work has con- 



112 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

gisted of the examination and testing of var- 
ious nose and throat washes commonly sold 
on the market. Of fifteen such preparations 
we have not found one that will kill the bac- 
teria in the sputum when mixed with it for 
as long as an hour, nor do they seem to have 
any marked beneficial effect on the mucous 
membranes. The above is only a brief sum- 
mary of some of our work. The detailed re- 
ports may be found in the Journals of the 
American Osteopathic Association and other 
Journals. 

I am greatly indebted to my co-workers 
in the A. T. Still Eesearch Institute and oth- 
ers for assistance in this work, for without 
their valuable suggestions and assistance it 
would never have been accomplished. 



The Osteopathic Education 



Osteopathy a Distinct School 

>~ C. P. McConnell, D. O. 

Osteopathic Teaching— C. C. Teall, D. O. 

The Osteopathic Curriculm 

— R. H. Williams, D. O. 



Knowledge is the result of the training of our menta 
faculties in the school of Nature. Knowledge is 
Nature understood. He who knows the most of 
Nature is the wisest man. His supposed powers are 
only Nature shown by his genius in conducting cause 
to produce result. 

— A. T. Still 



After all has been said, afterl all 
theories have been spun, no matter 
by what school, the very kernel of 
the healing art is simply what can you 
or 1 do to assist Nature. 

--C. P. McConnelL D. O. 



Osteopathy, A Distinct School 

By Carl P. McConnell, D. O. 

{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the Ameri- 
can Osteopathic Association) 



OSTEOPATHY is great because its mer- 
its are inclusive of a broad field. Os- 
teopathy is a system of healing, not 
alone a method of treatment. It is a system 
or school because it has a distinctive and em- 
bracing etiology, diagnosis, pathology, and 
therapy. Other schools are divergent on the 
therapeutic plane only. Therapeutics can 
amount to but little if it is not based upon 
the other factors, and those factors consist 
of etiology, diagnosis, and pathology. Thus 
the reason of an unstable and shifting ther- 
apy of the drug schools. What will make a 
school of the healing art stable, consistent, 
and hence scientific is its etiology and ther- 
apy. The latter, at best, is only a means to 
an end. Osteopathy presents, logically and 
practically, this necessary fundamental bas- 
ed upon the bedrocks of anatomy and phy- 
siology. 



Osteopathic Teaching 

By C. C. Teall, D. O. 

{Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Atlas Club) 

OSTEOPATHIC teaching is revolution- 
ary. Old and accepted ideas were 
broken away from and an entirely new 
field of investigation was opened. 

In the beginning, a condition was found 
in the patient; it was corrected and the re- 
sult was health. That was all the public 
asked. One ounce of cure was worth tons of 
theory and they did not inquire into the 
means of their relief. But adequately to 
teach Osteopathy a vast amount of original 
work had to be done. Anatomy is anatomy 
but there is a vast difference in its applica- 
tion. Physiology must be taught to mean 
something more than an interesting phenom- 
enon. Pathology had an unfilled gap be- 
tween cause and effect which must be bridg- 
ed. The post-mortem had a great story to 
tell but an Osteopath must tell it. A slide of 
degenerated tissue under the microscope is 
of interest, but why the degeneration? It is 
described at length by the authorities but the 
causes and morbific changes are not carried 
out. Obstetrics along strictly natural and 
physiological lines insuring both mother and 
babe against injury; gynecology minus the 



THE OSTEOPATHIC EDUCATION 117 

knife and plus common sense; all these and 
more had to be shaped to teach the osteo- 
pathic student. The archives of Osteopathy 
were empty a few years ago. There was no 
precedent to follow and the ideas in teaching 
which had prevailed for centuries dominated. 
All this is changed. The colleges teach the 
science along stritcly osteopathic lines, mak- 
ing the application of the truths which have 
escaped the notice of centuries of investiga- 
tion. 

There is a much discussed subject, just 
what is osteopathic and what is not. Dr. C. 
M. T. Hulett, at a Greater New York Osteo- 
pathic Society meeting said: 

"Every application, appliance, method 
or procedure used in treatment of disease 
may be classified under two heads. If its 
effect is to modify the vital processes them- 
selves, it is medical. If its effect is to re- 
move conditions which are interfering with 
processes, it is osteopathic. Among the first 
are most drugs used for their physiological 
effect, much surgery, electricity, hot air, 
vibrators and similar devices. Among the 
second are manipulation, germicides, reg- 
ulation of diet, habits and life environ- 
ments. If the X-ray or Finsen light will 
kill the lupus or cancer germ the principle 
of their action is osteopathic." 

That is the best opinion on that much 
mooted question I have ever seen and it is a 
guide board for all who are in doubt. 



The Osteopathic Curriculm 

By Ralph H. Williams, D. O. 

{Reprinted by permission from the Osteopathic Magazine) 

THE only material difference between the 
training of an osteopathic physician 
and the doctor of medicine is in but 
one subject, — therapeutics, or the treatment 
of disease. Naturally in the training of the 
doctor of medicine this covers drugs and 
their use in practice, while the osteopathic 
physician is trained in the application of the 
osteopathic theories to the treatment of dis- 
ease. 

In the average osteopathic college, the 
amount of time devoted to the course of 
study is equal to that of the average medical 
college, while some of the schools present a 
curriculum which is the equivalent of the 
highest grade medical schools. 

The American Medical Association re- 
quires a minimum of four thousand hours 
work in a period of four years and the Amer- 
ican Osteopathic Association requires three 
thousand, seven hundred thirty-one hours in 
a three-years course, the difference in time 
between the two courses being principally 
consumed in the greater requirements of the 
American Medical Association in the sub- 
jects of surgery and bacteriology. All of the 
recognized osteopathic colleges require at 



THE OSTEOPATHIC EDUCATION 119 

least as much time as the requirements of 
the American Osteopathic Association and 
the majority of them require over four thous- 
and hours for the completion of the course, 
and some of the institutions which require a 
four-years course maintain a curriculum 
close to five thousand hours. 

The Regents of the State of New York 
require that an institution recognized by 
them shall maintain a four-years course con- 
templating not less than thirty-four hundred 
hours, or over three hundred hours less than 
the requirements of the American Osteopath- 
ic Association for a three-years course. 

In order that a definite idea as to the re 
quirements of an osteopathic education may 
be had, we append hereto a copy of the stan- 
dard curriculum required by the American 
Osteopathic Association of all osteopathic 
colleges which are affiliated therewith. 

The requirements herein laid down are 
minimum requirements below which no col- 
lege can fall and retain its standing with the 
Association. These requirements are exceed- 
ed by all of the colleges in most particulars. 
These requirements are those considered nec- 
essary for an adequate osteopathic educa- 
tion. 

Curriculum Required by the American 
Osteopathic Association 

Subject Hours 

Anatomy 540 

Physiology 324 

Chemistry 186 



120 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

Biology 72 

Physiologic Physics 54 

Histology 126 

Bacteriology 90 

Osteopathic Technic and Tactile Train- 
ing 198 

General Pathology 108 

Osteopathic or Special Pathology. ... 54 

Embryology 36 

Post Mortem and Medical Juris- 
prudence 26 

Gynecology 126 

Obstetrics (including three deliveries) 108 
Diagnosis (including General Phyiscal 
Diagnosis, Osteopathic and Labora- 
tory Diagnosis) 180 

Surgery (including Orthopedics) ... .216 
Dietetics. Hygiene and Sanitation. . .108 
Toxicology, Effects of drugs and Urin- 
alysis 72 

Practice of Osteopathy, (covering Ner- 
vous and Mental Diseases; Alimen- 
tary and Urinary Tract; Infections 
and Constitutional; Circulatory and 
Respiratory; Skin and Venereal; 
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat and Ped- 
iatrics 432 

Non-Medicinal Therapeutics and Emer- 
gencies 18 

Amphitheater Clinics 252 

Clinical Treatments 324 

3731 

Under the head of Osteopathic Technic 
and Tactile Training will be found the re- 
quirement of one hundred ninety-eight hours. 
Unlike the training of the doctor of medi- 
cine the training of the osteopathic physician 
cannot be wholly theoretical. He must have 
the training in his hands as well as in his 
brains. He must learn to recognize by the 



THE OSTEOPATHIC EDUCATION 121 

sense of touch the slight abnormalities which 
would escape the untrained practitioner. It 
is for this reason that the medical practition- 
er is unable to recognize and appreciate the 
importance of abnormalities which can be 
discovered by the trained osteopathic fingers, 
abnormalities which are the keys to the suc- 
cess of osteopathic practice. The medical 
practitioner is endowed with the same sense 
of touch that the osteopathic physician pois- 
sesses, but just as the ordinary individual is 
unable to read the books of the blind through 
the lack of special training, so is the medical 
doctor unable to recognize and understand 
the meaning of the slightly altered conditions 
which mean so much to the osteopathic phy- 
sician in the making of his diagnosis and his 
treatment of diseased conditions. 

With the growth of the osteopathic 
profession there has grown up an apprecia- 
tion of pathology from a different viewpoint 
as to cause and effect; an understanding of 
pathology supported by experiments demon- 
strating their correctness, a phase of pathol- 
ogy that is not understood, taught or appre- 
ciated in the existing works on the subject 
from a medical point of view. This growing 
subject is provided for in the osteopathic cur- 
riculum. 

The Principles of Osteopathy are the 
counterpart in the osteopathic course of 
study of the pharmacology and materia me- 
dica of the medical course, and that whip 1 ! 
makes the training of the Osteopath distir.- 



122 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tive as compared with the training of a medi- 
cal doctor. 

The medical student completes his edu- 
cation and receives his diploma with little or 
no practical experience. The osteopathic 
practitioner, on the contrary, spends a con- 
siderable portion of his time during the last 
year's work in the actual care of patients. 
While this is, of course, under the observ- 
tion of trained clinicians, the student does the 
actual work, and is responsible for the re- 
sults accomplished. He has, not theory alone, 
but practical knowledge, drawn from the 
most efficient of all teachers, '' experience ' ' to 
guide his work. 

No modern theory of the causation of 
disease is left out of his training, whether 
this theory be in the theoretical stage or has 
become a demonstrated fact. He is trained to 
recognize all forms of bacteria and is taus-ht 
their relationship to diseased conditions. 
Every known and accepted method of diag- 
nosis in use by the medical profession is 
taught to him in addition to his own meth- 
ods of osteopathic diagnosis which is peculiar 
to and distinctively characteristic of the 
school he represents. 

In his fundamental training and know- 
ledge of the human body the osteopathic phy- 
sician stands second to none. In the time ac- 
tually spent in the study of the human body 
both in the abstract and the concrete, his 
work is considerably in the excess of the stu- 
dent of medicine. 



Application of 
Osteopathic Principles 



Osteopathy's own philosophy of surgery, midwifery 
and general treatment is complete and defies refutation. 

— A. T. SHU 



A point that appeals strongly and is 
particularly gratifying to the osteopath- 
ic practitioner, is that not a certain 
line of diseases only is treated more 
successfully by osteopathic work than 
other diseaseses, but that the entire 
field of medicine is covered by osteo- 
pathic therapeutics. 

~-C. P. McConnell, D. O. 



Application of Osteopathic 
Principles 

By G. V. Webster, D. O. 

THE application of the principles of Os- 
teopathy to the field of therapeutics 
has demonstrated that they are emi- 
nently practical. If the Osteopath could not 
accomplish in a better way things that have 
been attempted, or could not do things which 
would otherwise be impossible, there would 
be no excuse for his existence- In the charter 
of the first osteopathic school, the purpose of 
the school is set forth as being to "improve 
our present system of surgery, obstetrics and 
the treatment of diseases generally and to 
place the same on a more rational and scien- 
tific basis." That this purpose has been ful- 
filled, the practical workings of Osteopathy 
bear the evidence. 

The application of osteopathic principles 
to meet the problems of bodily disorder has 
demonstrated their efficiency in practically 
all diseases. The individual Osteopaths may 
vary in proficiency, but the principles remain 
true. Eesults depend upon the degree with 
which the practice is made to approach the 
principle, Osteopathy being both an art and 
a science. 



126 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

An understanding of the field in which 
osteopathic principles are applicable may 
possibly best be gained by a review of some 
of the basic osteopathic considerations in 
several of the general classes of disease. 

Diseases of the Nervous System 

A nerve cell with its attendant fiber may 
be likened to an electrical battery with its at- 
tached wires which convey the power of the 
battery to a point of usefulness. Electricity 
may be interpreted in terms of light, heat or 
motion' — all different forms of energy. Ner- 
vous impulses in the body are interpreted in 
terms of motion, secretion, sensation, nutri- 
tion, consciousness, and by the special senses. 

In the case of electricity, the integrity of 
the battery, the wires and the end instru- 
ment, which evidences the impulses as light, 
heat or power, must be maintained. The bat- 
tery cell may be impaired, the wire broken or 
short circuited, or the instrument may lack 
adjustment ; in any case a failure of function 
results. With the battery, the cause of fail- 
ure may be mechanical or chemical. The 
same is true of the nerve unit. A mechanical 
interference, as by pressure, with the nerve 
cell, fiber or end organ, a chemical or vital 
change through degeneration of the nerve 
unit from exhaustion or impaired nutrition, 
may take place. Abnormal pressure is the 
primary cause of impaired function in either 
case. In the first, the pressure is exerted, by 
fiome structure out of its position, upon the 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 127 



nerve cell or fiber; in the second, the pressure 
is upon the vessels carrying nutrition to the 
nerve unit. 

The Osteopath is the electrical engineer 
of the nervous system. It is his aim to pre- 
serve the integrity of the individual nerve, 
cell, fiber and end organ by relieving them of 
any abnormal pressure, or interference with 
their supply of nutrition. 

Of the disorders incident to nerve tis- 
sue, we may have, as has been suggested, 
those that are either functional or organic; 
each with possible resultant disturbances of 
motion, secretion, sensation, nutrition, con- 
sciousness or of the special senses. A great 
number of these cases of both classes have 
cone under osteopathic observation and the 
osteopathic search for the causes of such dis- 
eases with the application of the principle of 
correction of structural abnormalities has re- 
sulted in lessening a large amount of human 
suffering. 

Diseases of the Digestive System 

Of the cases which have presented them- 
selves for osteopathic examination, a large 
number have been disturbances of the diges- 
tive system. Of these a portion have result- 
ed from some abuse of the organs of diges- 
tion by dietetic errors, in which case correc- 
tion of the errors of diet would be indicated, 
but most of the cases present some structural 
derangement which is manifestly interfering 



128 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

with the functioning of the stomach, liver, 
pancreas, or intestines. 

The stomach receives an extensive nerve 
supply, partly from the pneumogastric nerve 
which leaves the cranium and passes down- 
ward to be distributed to the organs in the 
throax and abdomen, and partly from the 
nerves that leave the spinal cord and chain of 
sympathetic nervous ganglia along the spine. 
These nerves carry impulses that control the 
movement of the muscular wall of the stom- 
ach, the action of the various glands that se- 
crete the gastric juice, the quantity of blood 
that is distributed to the organ and the nu- 
trition of the organ itself; as well as sensa- 
tion to the nerve centers in the cord and 
brain. 

If motion, secretion, nutrition or sensa- 
tion be impaired in the organ, the organ is 
not to be blamed. One could scarcely, with 
justice, blame the telephone if the wires were 
down. Somewhere there is a mechanical de- 
fect — an interference with the origin or trans- 
mission of the nervous impulses which gov- 
ern these functions. A careful osteopathic 
search will reveal the point of interference. 
A careful physical examination, with possib- 
ly a laboratory examination of the stomach 
contents if necessary, will give the evidence 
as to the functions impaired or of any organ- 
ic trouble that may have resulted from long 
continued functional disturbances. A little 
engineering skill is needed to remove the 
interference and if successfully accomplished 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 129 



the organ will go about its work without fur- 
ther hesitancy, provided that these interfer- 
ences have not been operating so long as^ to 
produce organic changes. Even then nothing 
could be of greater value to the suffering or- 
gan than to have its struggle for existence 
extended a helping hand by way of improved 
blood and nerve supply. 

One could supply from an outside source 
some of the deficient constituents of the gas- 
tric juice, one could knead the stomach and 
supply in a measure impaired motion, one 
could use an anodyne and relieve distressing 
sensations, but it would seem the more logi- 
cal course to so put in order the bodily mech- 
anism that the constituents of the gastri« 
juice would be naturally supplied in proper 
proportion, the contents of the stomach be 
churned by its own power, and then with per- 
fect digestion there would be no occasion for 
annoying sensory disturbances to reach the 
consciousness. 

The functions of the other organs of di- 
gestion, the liver, the pancreas, the intes- 
tines, the colon, may likewise be impaired, 
and a long list of names has been applied to 
the various symptoms and conditions. In 
these as with the stomach, faulty diet, micro- 
organisms, etc., may play a part, but analyzed 
carefully it will be found that primarily the 
cause rests in some structural abnormality 
operating to derange the blood or nerve sup- 
ply of the organ or part. In diseases of these 
organs it would likewise be the logical thing 



130 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

to find and remove such an obstruction, whe- 
ther the case be congestion of the liver, intes- 
tinal indigestion, appendicitis, colitis, con- 
stipation, dysentery, or any one of the list of 
diseases of the digestive tract, where the or- 
ganic changes have not reached the stage of 
degeneration that might require operative in- 
terference. 

Diseases of the Respiratory System 

Under this heading may be included all 
disorders of the nose, larnyx, bronchial tubes, 
lungs and pleura whether or not accompanied 
by specific infection. Nearly all of these, it 
has been shown, are primarily due to inter- 
rupted nervous impulses. Since the nerves 
hold under their control the calibre of the 
blood vessels and so determine the quantity 
of blood distributed to a part, it is obvious 
that an interference with the vaso-motor 
nerves as they are called would result in ei- 
ther too little or too much blood being 
driven to an organ. Too much blood and we 
have a congestion; too little and the nourish- 
ment of the tissue is impaired — in either 
case the vitality of the part is lowered. 
Germs, whether they be the germs of la 
grippe, pneumonia or tuberculosis, find a con- 
venient lodging place in tissue with lowered 
vitality — otherwise they might be destroyed, 
before they had time to multiply and colon- 
ize, by the white blood corpuscles which act 
as little policemen throughout the body, ar- 
resting and devouring invading germs. Per- 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 131 

feet circulation through a part would mean 
that these policemen were "covering their 
beat" with due regularity and in sufficient 
numbers to repel any ordinary invasion. 

Osteopathic work by correcting any me- 
chanical interference with the vaso-motor 
nerves to the lungs is of value in maintaining 
the normal healthy tone of the lung tissue by 
preventing congestion or faulty nutrition. It 
aids in helping the lung to resist the invas- 
ions of germs and in strengthening and re- 
storing to health weakened tissues. 

All diseases of the respiratory tract are 
not associated, however, with germs, but in 
all structural conditions play a large part, 
and the axiom that normal structure is a pre- 
requisite of normal functioning holds true in 
disorders of the respiratory tract, whether 
the symptoms of such structural disorder be 
grouped under the name of asthma, hay fev- 
er, catarrh, croup, bronchitis or one of the 
acute infectious diseases. The essential point 
is to find the primary cause of the disease — 
that which is interfering with the normal 
physiological action of the organ or part and 
set about to correct the same, with the assur- 
ance that God made man a perfect being and 
if there is failure in any function there must 
be a cause for such failure. 

Diseases of the Circulatory System 

The blood is the chief agent of transpor- 
tation in the body, carrying food to and the 
waste from the tissues. The organs necessary 



132 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

to maintain this transportation system com- 
prise a propelling force, the heart; avenues 
of distribution, the arteries and capillaries, 
also channels for the re-collection and return 
of the blood to the heart, the veins. 

Many of the diseases of the body may be 
found associated with some alteration or de- 
fect in this transportation system. "The 
reign of the artery is supreme", is the way 
the "Old Doctor" expressed it. In the con- 
sideration of the diseases of the organs of 
the circulatory system, we find disorders of 
two kinds — functional or organic. 

The heart receives nervous impulses by 
way of the pneumogastric nerve which tend 
to retard its action and from the cardiac 
sympathetic nerves which accelerate its ac- 
tion. It also has nervous ganglia within its 
muscular walls which are automatic in ac- 
tion. Variations in the rate or regularity of 
the heart's action indicate some abnormal 
nervous impulse received either over the 
pneumogastric or sympathetic nerves. These 
abnormal impulses may be purely reflex, as 
from exopthalmic goitre, anemia, acute in- 
fectious disease, dyspepsia, overwork, stimu- 
lants, poisons, pelvic disturbances, emotional 
states, etc. However, a satisfactory explana- 
tion for all functional disturbances cannot 
be found in the reflexes. The pneumogastric 
and sympathetic nerves at certain points in 
their course pass in very close relation to 
some parts of the bony framework and if 
these structures are occupying other than 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 133 



their true anatomical position they may be 
the source of direct interruption to the ner- 
vous impulses that should reach the heart. 
Osteopathic clinical evidence and the evi- 
dence obtained by animal experiment go to 
show that most functional disorders of the 
heart have as a causative factor some dis- 
placement, however slight, of the ribs or ver- 
tebrae in relation with these nerves. The in- 
dications then in case of functional disorder 
of the heart is to search for a possible reflex 
cause and remedy that or to locate a possible 
direct cause in some structural abnormality 
of rib or vertebrae and correct that. 

Lesions producing cardiac neuroses may 
lead to organic disease although many other 
indirect causes are recognized. In organic 
troubles the problem presented is much more 
difficult and serious. While it would not be 
expected that the organic disease could be 
remedied, yet the work of freeing the ner- 
vous impulses that should reach the heart is 
of the utmost value, materially assisting the 
organ in performing its duty even though it 
is handicapped by organic changes. 

Functional disease of the blood vessels 
may result from disturbance to the vaso- 
motor nerves — the nerves to the muscular 
coat of the arteries that Osteopaths are so 
much interested in and which have their 
origin along the spine. Organic diseases of 
the blood vessels are of the nature of degen- 
erations of varying kinds and degree. 

In all cardiac or circulatory disturbances 



134 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

the work of the Osteopath is quick, safe and 
efficient, no other method of treatment oper- 
ating so in harmony with Nature 's laws. 

Diseases of the Kidney 

A great deal of mystery has existed in 
the popular mind as to kidney difficulties 
and, to one unacquainted with the facts, it 
might seem that the application of the osteo- 
pathic principles for the relief of such dis- 
orders is but another addition to the mys- 
tery. 

The function of the kidney is that of 
elimination — to filter out and excrete the ex- 
cess water and waste products from the blood 
stream. This function is dependent upon 
the integrity of the epithelial cells that line 
the little tubules of which the kidney is large- 
ly composed. These in turn depend for their 
health upon normal nutrition and for their 
action upon normal nerve impulses. The 
nerves that supply the kidney, controlling 
the distribution of blood to and the excre- 
tory function of the organ, can be traced back 
through the solar plexus to the center in the 
spine where any abnormal structural pres- 
sure will interfere with their harmonious ac- 
tion. 

The evidence regarding disease of the 
kidneys is obtained largely by urinalysis sup- 
plemented by a thorough physical examina- 
tion and a careful osteopathic search for de- 
rangements of the ribs or vertebrae near 
which pass the nerve fibers just mentioned. 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 13 & 



When evidence is obtained of faulty action 
of the kidney, the next important step is the 
discovery of a cause. Inasmuch as a nerve is 
with difficulty impinged while passing 
through soft tissue, it is but reasonable to 
suspect that the interference is at a point 
where it comes into more or less intimate re- 
lation with denser structures — bones or liga- 
ments. The point of interruption to the ner- 
vous impulses having been discovered in the 
faulty relations of some of the ribs or verte- 
brae, the Osteopath sets about correcting the 
same, reasoning that if structural relations 
are maintained, as Nature intended they 
should be, in all parts of the anatomy asso- 
ciated with the kidney, the organ will func- 
tion properly, provided that the degenerative 
changes in the tissues of the kidney have not 
progressed beyond repair. 

Diseases of the Pelvic Organs 

In the treatment of the diseases incident 
to the pelvic structures, Osteopathy gave the 
world an entirely new, and we believe cor- 
rect, conception of the cause and cure of such 
conditions, proving a great boon to suffering 
woman-kind. Long had attempts been made 
to remedy the conditions found, but not one 
word in all medical literature pointed toward 
the bony lesion as a fundamental cause of 
such conditions. It is with truth that Mrs. J. 
B. Foraker of Ohio said: "If Dr. A. T. Still 
had discovered nothing new in medical 
science but what he has done for woman, his 



136 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

name would go down the ages as the greatest 
physician of any age and one of the histori- 
cal benefactors of the race." 

The pelvic organs are delicately balanc- 
ed, supported by ligaments. Clothing, pos- 
ture, habits, occupation, etc., all influence 
more or less the integrity of the supports and 
the balance of the pelvic structures, but with 
the ligaments maintaining their normal tone 
and proper tension organic displacements 
would not occur. The nerves which give 
tone to the ligaments and the vaso-motor 
nerves controlling the blood supply to the 
pelvic organs have their origin along the 
spine. Any structural derangement there 
would so interfere with the nerves that the 
ligaments would lose their tone, permitting 
relaxation, and allowing gravity, or other 
forces, to carry the organs to abnormal posi- 
tions. The deranged vaso-motor nerves, to- 
gether with the faulty position would produce 
congestion which in turn might lead to faul- 
ty functioning, abnormal secretion, degener- 
ation of tissues or tumefaction. To treat 
these conditions without correcting the pri- 
mary structural cause is but to treat the 
symptoms. Permanent relief could scarcely 
be hoped for without the removal of the 
cause. The Osteopath deals largely with 
causes, yet being mindful of the symptoms 
and conditions that those causes have pro- 
duced. 

There is probably no field so frequently 
invaded by the surgeon's knife as the pelvi3, 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 13T 

yet taken in time the great majority of these 
cases could have been saved the operation 
and the suffering that preceded it, beicg re- 
stored to health and comfort without the 
knife. It is with causes that we must be con- 
cerned if we would find how the conditions 
that would eventually demand an operation 
may be remedied, and it is in dealing with 
causes that Osteopathy has won its great suc- 
cess in this as in other fields of therapeutics 
and prophylaxis. Speaking in this connec- 
tion Dr. Lena Creswell says : 

"Almost all of the diseases of tlie 
pelvic structure are curable in the begin- 
ning without the surgeon, and in truth, 
the osteopathic practice is revolutionizing 
modern surgery, but even yet the number 
of women operated on for pelvic trouble 
is alarming. Many are unsexed and it 
would seem that many of these necessary 
operations might be prevented if the wo- 
men of our land possessed the proper 
knowledge of the care of their bodies. 
Many cases, which were formerly consid- 
ered surgical, respond readily to this 
treatment but some cases, usually dating 
from parturition, must have an opera- 
tion. I have found osteopathic treatment 
many times of great value to prepare the 
patient for xhe operation and it frequently 
is necessary afterwards." 

"The science of Osteopathy does 
more than all others to revolutionize the 
treatment of the diseases of women and 
has advanced further along this line than 
any other method. Osteopathic gynecol- 
ogy is based on facts. Our method is to 
locate the lesion that interferes with the 
blood and nerve supply and if possible to 
remove the same. We should feel proud 
of the record we have made in the treat- 
ment of these diseases. From year to year 



138 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

we are demonstrating a more complete 
method of treating the diseases of women- 
kind." 

Diseases of the Skin 

A class of diseases that at first thought 
might seem beyond the reach of osteopathic 
measures are affections of the skin. The 
skin exercises protective, absorptive and ex- 
cretory functions. Overburdening any one of 
these functions may result in disease. The 
protective function may be overburdened, as 
by germs or parasites; the absorptive, as by 
chemicals and the excretory as by the defec- 
tive action of one of the other organs of elim- 
ination. 

Such disorders may be divided into two 
general classes with reference to causes; ex- 
ternal or internal. Both may be combined. 
Of the external causes, probably germs are 
frequently a direct cause. To remove the 
cause, remove the germs, which may be ac- 
complished by the application of a germicide. 
This alone is required; the reconstructive for- 
ces of the body restoring the surface to nor- 
mal as soon as the cause is removed. Of the 
internal causes, those tracable to some disor- 
der of nutrition, metabolism or elimination 
predominate. In the search for the causes, it 
often resolves itself step by step back to 
some structural abnormality interfering with 
one or more of the organs concerned with the 
constructive or eliminative forces of the body. 
In connection with this class, purely osteo- 
pathic work is of distinct therapeutic value, 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 139 

as has been shown by the cases of eczema, for 
instance, which have yielded to osteopathic 
work applied to the correction of the nerve 
and blood supply to the liver and pancreas af- 
ter various other means for relief had been 
unsuccessfully tried. 

Acute Infectious Diseases 

The invasion of the human body by 
pathogenic micro-organisms gives rise to 
what are known as the acute infectious dis- 
eases, such as typhoid fever, scarlet fever, 
measles, influenza, etc. The battle is waged 
between the invading germs and the powers 
of resistance inherent in the body. On the 
one hand, the germs seek to destroy the har- 
mony of the bodily functions by the produc- 
tion of poisons that spell death to the tis- 
sues; on the other hand, the body manufac- 
tures an ' ' anti ' ' poison which neutralizes the 
poison produced by the germ and permits the 
white blood corpuscles to destroy the invad- 
ers or, at least, restrict their operations. The 
question is, Which shall prevail? Once start- 
ed, it is might that prevails. 

The physician should ally himself with 
the forces of resistance and his problem is 
how best to assist the body in its efforts to 
overcome the germs and the effects of their 
poisons. The forces of the body are capable 
of making the necessary resistance provided 
that there is no obstruction to their perfect 
operation. "No obstruction" means unim- 
peded circulation in all parts and no inter- 



140 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

ference with the nerve supply to the organs 
whose function is the manufacture of *'anti" 
poisons, or to the organs of elimination. The 
effort has been made to produce some of these 
"anti" substances in the bodies of animals 
and then appropriate the" antis "thus obtain- 
ed for use in the defense of the human organ- 
ism. This is not of the nature of a drug but 
rather of the nature of an anti-dote for poi- 
son — the poison produced by the germ — and 
as such their use is not at direct variance 
with osteopathic theories, although it has 
been repeatedly demonstrated that the body 
in perfect health will provide from its own 
laboratories sufficient of the "anti" sub- 
stance to neutralize the toxins produced by 
the germs, making the use of such" anti" sub- 
stances superfluous. An instance of this is 
frequently found where a person may not be 
infected although repeatedly exposed to the 
germs of measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, 
etc. The reason that these cases of immunity 
are not more numerous is because so few peo- 
ple are in absolutely perfect health. 

Any means that will assist the organs of 
defense is of value. The Osteopath by open- 
ing every channel of operation for the fight- 
ing forces of the body materially assists in 
the checking or repulsion of the invading 
germs, in the production of germicidal prop- 
erties in the blood and in the elimination of 
the poisons from the system. Any other poi- 
son or drug entering the system at the time 



APPLICATION. OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 141 



of the invasion but increases the burden of 
poisons to be neutralized or eliminated. 

Diseases of the Eye and Ear 

The eye and ear are organs of special 
sense. The eye is formed to receive waves of 
light and convey the impressions received to 
the mind. The ear is formed to receive waves 
of sound and convey and interpret them to 
the consciousness. Both organs are located 
in the cranium and nearly surrounded by 
firm bony walls. How then can osteopathic 
work be of value to disordered organs so 
deeply situated in bony cavities? With the 
delicate mechanism of the eye or ear, the Os- 
teopath does very little directly, yet in the 
treatment of diseases of these organs Osteo 
pathy has achieved some of its most remark- 
able results. 

Tracing the sympathetic nerve fibers of 
the eye backward toward their origin, the an- 
atomist and physiologist have found thai 
some of these nerve fibers having their nu- 
cleus of origin near the base of the brain pasa 
downward through the spinal cord to the 
level of the upper dorsal spine, i. e., between 
the shoulders, where they leave the cord 
and, passing out between the vertebrae, 
join the chain of sympatehtic nervous 
ganglia that are situated just in front of 
the vertebrae and lead upward through these 
ganglia and their connections and are finally 
distributed to the eye. This is a very rounda- 
bout way for the nervous impulses to travel' 



142 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 



in reaching the eye yet such is the course they 
follow. The eye has other nerves more direct 
in action controlling its motion and some of 
the other functions, but those just mentioned 
being the sympathetic, control the involun- 
tary muscles within the eye itself, the calibre 
of the blood vessels to the eye and so the nu- 
trition to each individual cell that goes to 
make up the delicate organ. Any irritation or 
interference with this sympathetic nerve 
vould result in disturbances that might pro- 
duce disease and impair the vision. It is not 
claimed that all eye disorders are amenable 
to osteopathic treatment, yet the application 
of the osteopathic principle of correcting all 
structural deviations, such as slightly mis- 
placed vertebrae in the neck, has resulted in 
so freeing the interrupted nervous impulses 
that frequently all the resultant symptoms 
manifest in the eye were relieved. 

It could scarcely be expected that in this 
brief article mention could be made of all the 
symptoms and diseases of the eye that have 
been benefited or cured by osteopathic cor- 
rective measures applied to the structures in 
relation with the sympathetic nerves to the 
eye, for well authenticated case reports of 
Che eye benefits are numerous in osteopathic 
literature. It is sufficient to state that the 
practice of finding what is wrong and fixing 
it, leaving Nature to mother the eye as she 
alone can, has resulted in demonstrating in 
eye troubles what a truly wonderful mother 
Nature is when unhampered in her work. 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 143 

In the treatment of diseases of the ear, 
particularly catarrhal deafness, osteopathic 
work has achieved a distinct success. The 
catarrhal deposits and adhesions in and 
about the Eustachian tube in this instance 
constitute the lesion and it is through the re- 
moval of these by manipulative work that 
the parts are restored to normal condition 
and function. 

The osteopathic control over other path- 
ological conditions of the ear is largely 
through the vaso-motor nerves that govern 
the amount of blood distributed to the parts 
or to some structural condition impinging di- 
rectly upon the return circulation from the 
ear, in either case the circulatory disturban- 
ces result in lowered vitality, impaired func- 
tion and possibly an invasion by micro-or- 
ganisms. 

To find what is interfering with the nor- 
mal physiological processes of the body and 
if possible correct the same — that is the Os- 
teopath's mission in dealing with disorders 
of the organs of special sense as with the 
other organs. 

Constitutional Diseases 

Constitutional diseases are those that 
pervade the whole system, such as chronic 
rheumatism, gout, diabetes, scurvey, rickets, 
etc., and are due to some break in the chain 
of events that govern the constructive or 
eliminative forces of the body. The character 
of the food itself may be faulty or one or 



144 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

more of the organs that are concerned in the 
preparation of the food elements for final use 
in the body as bone, gland, muscle, etc., lag 
in performing their functions, or some of the 
organs whose duty it is to dispose of the 
ashes of the bodily fires, the waste material, 
fail in their physiological duty and the re- 
sult is general or constitutional disorder. 

To find where the broken link in the 
Chain may be is the duty of the physician. To 
the Osteopath, the conditions presented by 
the symptoms of constitutional disease would 
point, aside from dietetic errors, to an inter- 
ruption to the nerve supply to one or more 
of the organs that gave evidence of failure 
of function. The location of the mechanical 
cause for such interruption and the correc- 
tion of the same permits again the movement 
of the constructive and eliminative forces of 
the body in an unbroken cycle, provided that 
the wheel of life has not been too greatly 
damaged by the weakened link having exist- 
ed too long. 

Finally 

Osteopathy is not a cure-all. There are 
disorders that are incurable; there are dis- 
eases which need surgical attention; an an- 
esthetic is a necessity; a parasite requires an 
antiseptic; a poison demands an antidote. 
There are considerations other than mechan- 
ical adjustment having to do with the envir- 
onment affecting the relative proportions in 
quantity and quality of the life essentials, 



APPLICATION, OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES 145 

food, air, water, rest, protection, cleanliness, 
physical and mental exercise, etc. — all of 
which enter into consideration in the prob- 
lem of protecting the body from disease. Yet 
perfection of bodily structure must be main- 
tained and it is the duty of the physician to 
assist in such maintenance while giving pro- 
per attention to the environment. Life for- 
ces he cannot give; tissue he cannot manu- 
facture; tissue builders, except in the form of 
food, he cannot furnish, discretion that will 
maintain a proper environment is with diffi- 
culty imparted; yet structural perfection he 
can help to maintain: that accomplished, Na- 
ture — the Mother of All — with infinite wis- 
dom maintains in function harmony, the 
body which she created and man's responsi- 
bility ceases. 



Osteopathy believes that all parts of the 
human body do work on chemical com- 
pounds and from the general supply manu- 
facture for local wants; thus the liver builds 
for itself of the material that is prepare i in 
its own division laboratory. The same of 
heart and brain. No disturbing or hindering 
causes will be tolerated to stay if the Osteo- 
path can find and remove them. 

-A. T. Still 



The Growth 
of Osteopathy 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



This is a war not for conquest, popularity or power. 
It is an aggressive campaign for love, truth and humanity. 

— A. T. Still 



Osteopathy has had its necessary 
growth and development amid sur* 
roundings that tested its right to exist' 
ence at every step. 

—Geo. E. Moran 



The Growth of Osteopathy 
Then and Now 

By A. G. Hildreth, D. O. 

Front an address delivered at a meeting of the American 
Osieopathic Association at Kirksville, Mo. 

THE poetry of Osteopathy has never been 
written. The essence, or abstract of 
this great truth which has enriched so 
many lives has never, and can never be ex- 
pressed in words, for it is so indelibly inter- 
woven with the every day occurrences of so 
many different individuals that it will be im- 
possible to collect in one volume the all that 
goes to make up a complete whole — central- 
ized at first in one man and his family, then 
divided with others until today it has to do 
with the lives of thousands and still is being 
handed on and on. Ah, who dare attempt to 
write the all of the "Then and Now?" Gome 
with me in your minds and walk over this 
identical spot of ground some years ago; 
look at the little five-room cottage, the rooms 
of which were used as treatment rooms by Dr. 
Andrew Taylor Still and his sons; see the 
people scattered here and there around his 
home and the little office building, with the 
bus driving occasionally to the door, deposit- 
ing its invalid or cripple to see the then be- 
coming famous "bone doctor." Note a lit- 



150 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tie frame structure, fourteen by twenty-eight 
feet, in the course of construction just in 
front of the original five-room cottage. Get 
a glimpse, if you can, of those things as they 
were and as they are so vividly painted in 
the memories of those of us who were here 
at that time and you may have some concep- 
tion of Osteopathy as it was then. 

Now turn your eye to the present, com- 
pare this building with those described. 
Look across the ravine at the well equipped, 
up-to-date hospital and you will have some 
conception of the Osteopathy of today. A 
comparison of the ''Then and Now" in ma- 
terial things only at the birthplace of this 
science is certainly very satisfactory and, 
no doubt, its progress has far outgrown the 
fondest anticipations of him who started this 
great work. But even with all this develop- 
ment achieved here at the parent institution 
it is incomparable with our growth, develop- 
ment and progress made in the literary, soc- 
ial, professional and scientific world. For 
more than five years from the beginning of 
the teaching of Osteopathy, we numbered less 
than one hundred men and women. Then we 
were so few in numbers that we could all 
gather around his knee at one time either in 
the little cottage, in his home, upon the lawn 
under the trees, on the steps of his front 
porch, anywhere and everywhere and drink 
wisdom from his own lips in all its purity and 
simplicity. We were iso close to the fountain 
of truth from whence all this wondrous 









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THE GROWTH OF OSTEOPATHY 151 

growth has emanated, that we could not only 
see the results obtained by the corrective pro- 
cesses beneath the scientific touch of his fin- 
gers, but we were forced to absorb from his 
mind a part, at least, of the inspiration of 
his thought, his genius and his power. 

Again, the results obtained at that time 
were not only an inspiration, but they were 
fraught with a knowledge, to those who were 
privileged to see them, that then and there 
lay the foundation for future professional 
careers by which the pioneer practitioners of 
Osteopathy have contributed so much to the 
strength, the solidity and the impregnability 
of the position we occupy today. Then and 
there were instilled through contact the true 
principles of genuine Osteopathy that must 
and will stand throughout all ages as the 
foundation of the earth's greatest system of 
medicine. The idea was then in its simplest, 
crudest, yet purest form, but from that point 
in our history was thrown out an influence 
so deep rooted, so pure and so far reaching 
in effect that it is not only a part of us now, 
but is destined to live on and on forever. 

Then we were a mere handful; now we 
are numbered by the thousands. Then one 
college upon the face of the earth; now some 
seven or eight. Then our classes for matri- 
culation numbered but a few, now they run 
into the hundreds. Then one man with a very 
few assistants taught all there were to teach, 
now it takes hundreds to supply the demand. 
Then there were no practitioners anywhere 



152 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

but at Kirksville and the hopeless cases of 
all the earth contributed their share to make 
Kirksville and Dr. Still famous. Now our 
practitioners are scattered all over the 
world. Then the eyes of the public were cen- 
tered here and the results obtained were giv- 
en world-wide comment and notice. Now, 
good results are being obtained everywhere 
Osteopaths are located and our good results 
are so common that they are expected and 
people are disappointed if they are not ob- 
tained. Then when people came to Kirksville 
for treatment, it was Dr. Still who cured 
them, whether one of his sons treated them 
or one of the assistants. Now the results 
have become so common that little notice is 
taken of the most seemingly miraculous 
cures. 

Then there was not a spot on earth where 
a graduated Osteopath could practice his 
chosen profession as a law abiding citizen, 
according to the interpretation of the then 
existing medical laws. Now almost every 
state of the union recognizes us with some 
form of legislative enactment, with many a 
splendid law to our credit. This, too, may 
be said of several foreign provinces. Then 
the combined influences of the earth seemed 
against us. Now, we are welcomed every- 
where, in the home, in the church, the local 
community, the state, yea, even by the na- 
tions of the earth as a factor for good. The 
press was a silent factor so far as we were 
concerned, unless occasionally when we were 



THE GROWTH OF OSTEOPATHY 153 

made the butt of their ridicule. Today, col- 
umn after column is given to us in the great 
papers of this country, clothed in terms most 
complimentary for our work. And the best 
periodicals now give us page after page of 
the most readable, educational articles, en- 
lightening the whole world as regards our 
profession and our progress. Then there 
could be no systematized organization for 
the promulgation of our work; we were so 
few, we could only cluster around this spot 
hovering in close contact with the original 
center. But now we have our local, our state 
and our national organizations that are prov- 
ing a wonderful factor in our growth. 

Whenever I hear people talk of shoals 
ahead or dangers coming, I cannot help but 
feel that if they could only have had accur- 
ate knowledge of all the history of the origin 
and growth of Osteopathy, they could not 
possibly feel that way, for there have been so 
many things that could not but make the men 
who stood with their fingers upon the pulse 
of this great movement know that the Master 
Mind of this universe was guiding its course. 
It was true "Then" and is is equally true 
"Now." 



To the Osteopath, his first and last duty 
is to look well to a healthy blood and nerve 
supply. He should let his eye camp day and 
night on the spinal column, and he must nev- 
er rest day or night until he knows that the 
spine is true and in line from atlas to sa- 
crum, with all the ribs known to be in perfect 
union with the processes of the spine. 

—a. r. sail 



Osteopathic Specialists 



{Special Article by R. Kendrick Smith, D. 0.) 



When Harvey solved by his powers of reason a 

knowledge of the circulation of the blood, he only 

reached the banks of the river of life. 

— A. T. Still 



The most that any physician can do 
in treating disease is to render oper- 
ative the natural forces within the 
patient's body. 

— A. T. Still 



Osteopathic Specialists 

By R. Kendrick Smith, D. O. 

ONE of the most significant chapters in 
the history of the marvelous growth 
of Osteopathy is that which chronicles 
its latest subdivision into the specialties. In 
the earlier days of the new school, all prac- 
titioners were obviously obliged to conduct a 
general practice, but as their numbers in- 
creased, and as educational and clinical fa- 
cilities became greater, it was natural that 
some students and physicians, either by de- 
liberate choice or by accident of experience, 
secured a much greater number of some par- 
ticular class of cases or manifested a partic- 
ular aptitude in some special line of work. 
This inevitably happens in any school of 
practice, or, as a matter of fact, in any other 
walk in modern life. 

The ultimate result today has been the 
development in Osteopathy, just as in all oth- 
er schools of practice, of all the well define I 
specialties and the constantly increasing 
reputation of distinguished authorities in 
different branches of the work. Eapid in- 
crease in the number and size of osteopathic 
hospitals, clinics, and other institutions and 
organizations has increased greatly the facil- 
ities for teaching the specialties and has en- 
abled the profession to amass a vast quantity 



158 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

of statistics proving the efficacy of Osteo- 
pathy in classes of cases heretofore supposed 
to have been without the scope of the new 
school. 

The American Osteopathic Association, 
comprising, as it does, more than half of the 
entire profession, is a remarkable illustration 
of the scientific earnestness of osteopathic 
practitioners. The national organization of 
no other school of practice has anywhere 
near such a proportion of its followers as 
members. The annual conventions of this as- 
sociation illustrate this same point, as fully 
one-third of the members attend these ses- 
sions compared with the one-tenth which at- 
tend the conclaves of the national bodies of 
the other schools of practice. The official 
journal of the association has attained a 
height of scientific recognition. It publishes 
monthly technical papers on the various 
specialties and also the reports of research 
work and the results of hospital experience. 
Laboratory specialists have produced rev- 
olutionary results in their experiments in the 
A. T. Still Research Institute in Chicago. Dr. 
John Deason, the superintendent, has suc- 
ceeded in producing cures in an uninterrupt- 
ed series of cases of monkeys afflicted with 
sleeping sickness, and Dr. Louisa Burns, one 
of the most eminent osteopathic text-book 
authors, has announced to the world the dis- 
covery of a new disease produced by yeast in 
the blood. She has also discovered that by 
testing the blood pressure it can be accurate- 



OSTEOPATHIC SPECIALISTS 159 

ly ascertained whether or not any patient is 
telling the truth. 

Perhaps the discovery which has at- 
tracted more wide-spread attention all over 
the country than any other made in osteo- 
pathic ranks, during the past few years, has 
been that of osteopathic cure for deafness. 
This development by Dr. James D. Edwards 
of St. Louis, and Dr. J. Deason of Chicago, is 
another of those feats of bloodless surgery 
which were made so famous by Lorenz, the 
great orthopedic surgeon from Vienna, and 
Still of Kirksville, Missouri, the founder of 
Osteopathy. Instead of burdening the pa- 
tient with various trumpets and telephones 
and other external devices to try to make a 
deaf ear hear, Dr. Edwards went right to the 
root of the matter and applied his treatment 
according to the basic principles of Osteopa- 
thy itself; that is, to the cause instead of the 
effect. Without the use of the knife or any 
surgical instruments, the discoverer of this 
operation, by means of his fingers alone, ex- 
plores the back of the throat and the vault 
between the throat and the nose, breaking 
down the tiny adhesions which twist the eus- 
tachiam tube out of its normal position. By 
this method he is able to place the tube in its 
normal position and to drain it of its accum- 
ulation of diseased material so that nature 
may have an opportunity to effect a cure. 
Under the instruction of Dr. Edwards, Osteo- 
paths all over the country have learned this 



160 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

method. It is applicable only to catarrhal 
deafness. 

The cure of hay fever by somewhat an- 
alagous methods is the latest triumph in the 
achievements of Dr. Edwards. 

"The Osteopathic Lorenz" is a title 
which has been freely given to Dr. George 
Laughlin, professor of orthopedic surgery at 
the American School of Osteopathy and os- 
teopathic surgeon to the hospital at Kirks- 
ville, Missouri. For years Dr. Laughlin has 
been performing an enormous number of or- 
thopedic operations, particularly for the con- 
dition which the famous surgeon from Vien- 
na came to this country to operate upon, 
namely, congenital dislocation of the hip. In 
the middle west they have so recognized the 
superiority of Dr. Laughlin 's procedure over 
that of Lorenz that they have named his 
modification of the Viennese procedure ' 'The 
Laughlin Operation." Dr. Laughlin's modi- 
fication of the famous Abbott operation for 
flexed lateral curvature of the spine has at- 
tracted great interest in surgical circles m 
the west. In both of these serious and impor- 
tant operations, Dr. Laughlin utilizes the os- 
teopathic principles of bloodless surgery to 
such an extent that the elements of pain and 
danger are greatly lessened and the possibil- 
ities of benefit much increased. 

On the Pacific coast Dr. Otis F. Akin is 
duplicating the great work done by Dr. 
Laughlin. Dr. Akin has had experience in 
all of the great clinics in this country and 



OSTEOPATHIC SPECIALISTS 161 

Europe and has had the advantage of person- 
al contact with the masters of orthopedic 
surgery in other lands. He worked with T>t, 
Abbott of Portland and has become an adept 
in the application of the latter 's method in 
the treatment of spinal curvature. Among 
Dr. Akin's triumphs has been his success 
with the wonderful new operation for tuber- 
culosis of the spine by means of which com- 
plete recovery is effected in a few weeks, in- 
stead of a few years as by the old-fashioned 
procedure. 

In the east among those who have been 
conspicuous in the success of their achieve- 
ments in the specialty of orthopedic surgery, 
may be mentioned Dr. E. M. Downing of 
York, Pa., and Dr. Ealph Williams of Ko- 
Chester, N. Y., both of whom have accom- 
plished wonderful things witL their modifica- 
tion of the Abbott operation. 

In general surgery it is probably safe to 
say that no man in any school of practice has 
ever made a more brilliant rise than Dr. 
George A. Still, surgeon-in-chief of the hos- 
pital of the American School of Osteopathy 
at Kirksville, Mo. Few surgeons in this coun- 
try perform more operations during the year 
than does Dr. Still, whose patients are sent to 
him by osteopathic practitioners located 
throughout the middle west. 

One of the specialties which has made 
the most phenomenal progress in osteopathic 
circles during the past year is that of mental 
diseases. At Macon, Mo., there has been es- 



162 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tablished a large institution for the exclusive 
treatment of mental cases by osteopathic 
methods. Under the superintendency of Dr. 
Arthur Hildreth, one of the pioneers in the 
profession, and under the technical direction 
of Dr. L. Von Horn Gerdine, professor of 
nervous and mental disease of the American 
School of Osteopathy, the startling discovery 
has been made that a number of supposedly 
incurable mental diseases are cured by os- 
teopathic treatment. 

In Los Angeles the latest word seems to 
have been spoken in the co-operation of spec- 
ialists among Osteopaths, as eight practition- 
ers, each with an exclusive specialty, have 
opened a co-operative establishment where 
they all work together. The several special- 
ties included in this osteopathic institution 
are women's and children's diseases,skin dis- 
eases, surgery, eye, ear, nose and throat, 
dentistry, mental and nervous diseases,X-ray 
and other laboratory diagnoses. The spec- 
ialists associated together in this work are: 
Dr. Merritt M. Eing, Dr. Edward Strong 
Merrill, Dr. W. Curtis Brigham, Dr. Walter 
B. Goodf ellow, Dr. Carl H. Phinney, Dr. Her- 
man E. Beckwith, Dr. H. Brenton Brigham 
and Dr. J. Wesley Scott. 
': The surprising interest of the public in 
the so-called "twilight sleep' ' shows the ten- 
dency to revolt from the traditional methods. 
In no line of osteopathic work is there more 
amazement at results than in obstetrical 
work. Dr. Charles Still, son of the founder 



OSTEOPATHIC SPECIALISTS 163 



of Osteopathy, and Dr. M. E. Clark of Indian- 
apolis, are two of the men who have attained 
the greatest reputation in this specialty, al- 
though there are hundreds of general practi- 
tioners who have accomplished splendid 
things in this work. 

''Better babies' ' by the hundreds are the 
result of the splendid work done by Dr. Jen- 
ette Bolles of Denver, Dr. Roberta Wimer- 
Ford of Seattle and a number of other noble 
osteopathic practitioners who are devoting 
their lives to the specialty of children's dis- 
eases and the campaign for the betterment 
of conditions for both mothers and infants. 

Tic doloreaux is the latest disease con- 
quered in the progress of Osteopathy. Dr. 
Christopher D. Thore of Boston recently dis- 
covered an entirely new cause for this painful 
and intractable condition and demonstrated 
the simplest osteopathic method of removing 
it. 

Dr. Frank Farmer of Chicago, who is 
director of the case record department of thB 
American Academy of Osteopathic Research, 
has attained national fame as a diagnoa- 
tician. 

Dr. Carl P. McConnell of Chicago, one of 
the pioneer osteopathic specialists, continues 
to be known as a master of technique. Dr, 
H. A. Redfield of Fairmont, Minn, is known 
all over the country in this school of practice 
as an expert oculist. 

The campaign against the great white 
plague receives added impetus by the work 



164 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

of Dr. W. B. Meacham of Ashville, N. C, 
who has demonstrated conclusively that 
there is a distinct relation between vertebral 
irregularities and pulmonary tuberculosis. 
Dr. Meacham has also proven that the adjust- 
ment of these bones may, in some cases, ma- 
terially assist the process of recovery. 

Dr. Percy Woodall's text-book on gyne- 
cology is an evidence of his standing in his 
specialty. Dr. Dain L. Tasker of Los Angeles 
has a monument to his reputation in the 
form of his text-book on the Principles of Os- 
teopathy. 

Dr. Charles Hazzard of New York City 
will always be looked up to by his former 
students because of the prestige of his book 
on "Osteopathic Practice." Dr. Charles 
Teall of Fulton, N. Y. is known to the pro- 
fession as an authority on displacements of 
the innominate bone. Dr. E. E. Tucker of 
New York City has for sevceral years de- 
voted his attention to the ductless glands. 

It is impossible within the limits of this 
chapter to include the names of many practi- 
tioners who are entirely deserving of mention 
as there are scores of osteopathic physicians 
and surgeons who have been modestly pursu- 
ing particular lines of research not only to 
their own advantage, but to the distinct ad- 
vancement of their profession and the lasting 
benefit of humanity. 

NOTE. The author of the foregoing omit- 
ted any reference to himself but I cannot 
refrain from stating that Dr. Smith is one 
of the best known orthopedic surgeons in 
the osteopathic school and has devoted 
much study to this special branch of prac- 
tice. — Ed. 



Osteopathic Institutions 



{Special Article by C. M. T. Hulett, D. 0.) 



Osteopathy is knowledge, or jf is nothing. 

— A. T. SHU 



Every great institution is the lengthened 
shadow of one man. 

—Ralph Waldo llmerson 



Osteopathic Institutions 

By C. M. T. Hulett, D. O. 

THE growth of Osteopathy on the side of 
individual practice is the way it is 
known to most people. They are less 
familiar with its institutional growth. Many 
are hardly aware of the existence of osteo- 
pathic institutions. But we want such peo- 
ple to understand that Osteopathy can make 
a very creditable exhibit in this line. 

The profession is well organized. Its na- 
tional association has over three thousand 
members and receives and disburses a large 
sum annually in broad-gauged public work. 
One hundred twenty-five state and subsidary 
societies in this country and Canada serve 
the more local needs and interests of the pro- 
fession and patrons. The British Osteopath- 
ic Society is active in its field in Great Bri- 
tain. 

Periodical literature of a high order, 
covering the scientific, professional, public 
health, and popular fields is well supported 
by the profession. Numerous text-books con- 
cerning the various branches of the science 
have been published by members of the pro- 
fession in addition to several brochures, 
monographs, and popular books and book- 
lets. Both novels and plays, with osteopath- 



168 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

ic correction of a lesion, as a key to the plot, 
have been received by the American public. 

Osteopathy has seven colleges in which 
young men and women are educated for en- 
tering the profession. 

The American School of Osteopathy, 
Kirksville, Mo. 

The Massachusetts College of Osteo- 
pathy, Boston, Mass. 

The California College of Osteopathic 
Physicians and Surgeons, Los Angeles, Cal. 

The Central College of Osteopathy, Kan- 
sas City, Mo. 

The Philadelphia College of Osteopathy, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

The Des Moines Still College of Osteo- 
pathy, Des Moines, la. 

The Chicago College of Osteopathy, Chi- 
cago, 111. 

Including surgery, the course of study is 
now four years. The curriculum evolved to 
conform to the osteopathic concept of dis- 
ease, parallels the medical curriculum and 
produces thoroughly qualified physicians. 

Osteopathic hospitals and sanitoriums 
are too many to name here. Suffice it to say 
that they are well enough distributed 
through the country, so that any case, surgi- 
cal or otherwise, may be cared for under os- 
teopathic auspices. The American Osteo- 
pathic Association maintains a Bureau of 
Clinics which assists the local osteopathic or- 




£ Z 



o * 



OSTEOPATHIC INSTITUTIONS 169 

ganizations in the establishment of public 
clinics. In some of the large cities osteopath- 
ic clinics supported by the profession have 
been established for the care of such cases as 
are in need of osteopathic treatment but are 
unable to employ a physician. 

At Macon, Missouri, is an institution 
dedicated exclusively to the treatment of 
mental diseases. Very encouraging results 
have already been obtained in cases of in- 
sanity treated there, although the institu- 
tion has been in operation but a short time. 

The Woman's Department of the Bureau 
of Public Health of the American Osteopath- 
ic Association is conducting a campaign for 
woman's welfare, national in its scope. 

The Academy of Clinical Research has 
been organized for the collection and sys- 
tematization of osteopathic case records. The 
profession is co-operating in collecting and 
preparing the records for the use of the Acad- 
emy. 

Osteopathy strikes a new note in the 
world's knowledge of disease. As to cause, 
course and cure, it is the great advance of the 
twentieth century. It represents a great 
basic principle correlating a multitude of 
lesser principles. Research, therefore, has al- 
ways enlisted the liveliest interest of the pro- 
fession, and steps were taken early to provide 
for it. The A. T. Still Research Institute was 
established for this purpose. Its two chief 
functions are original investigation, and ad- 



170 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

vanced special teaching for physicians. Lo- 
cated in Chicago, to be convenient geograph- 
ically, its plans call for extensive laboratory, 
clinic, and hospital facilities, of the highest 
order. It is supported entirely by endow- 
ment provided by the profession and its 
friends. 



Osteopathy and 
Surgery 



{Reprinted by permission from the catalogue of the 
American School of Osteopathy) 



Osteopathy has but little use for the knife, but when 
no human skill can avail to save life or limb without 
knife and saw, then we are willing to use anything or 
any method to save that life. 

— A. T. Still 



There is back of Osteopathy a lineage 
of the thought of all of the ages. 

— W. L. Riggs, D. 0. 



Osteopathy and Surgery 

By Geo. A. Still M. S., M. D., D. O. 

OSTEOPATHY has prevented so many 
thousand of useless operations and is 
so generally opposed to the methods 
of the old schools that at first thought it 
might be inferred that it is unalterably op- 
posed to surgery, and that a surgery course 
would find no part in the curriculum of an 
osteopathic school. 

Such, however, is not the case, as there 
are many conditons which form their very 
nature require surgical treatment; and it is 
not the purpose of Osteopathy to dictatorial- 
ly oppose anything in the old school that is 
of real value. 

Indeed, when one comes to look at it, 
surgery and Osteopathy are from their nat-< 
ure more closely related than surgery and 
medicine. Osteopathy is the physical or 
manual manipulation of the bodily struc- 
tures, without instruments, one might say; 
while surgery in a somewhat different way, 
it is true, handles the bodily structures phy-* 
sically and manually with instruments. 

Efficiency in either must essentially rest 
on an accurate knowledge of anatomy, sup- 
plemented with physiology and pathology. 
Every study that must be emphasized in the 



174 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

groundwork or foundation knowledge of one 
must also be just as much emphasized in the 
preliminary training in the other. 

Medicine, on the other hand, is essen- 
tially based on alchemy and mysticism. It 
is noteworthy that all medical schools refer 
to themselves as colleges of " Physicians and 
Surgeons." It is also well to note that "Chir- 
ugery" from which we derive the word sur- 
gery, really means to "manipulate." It is 
true that the absolute insufficiency of medi- 
cine has made surgery cover a great deal of 
ground and devise many dangerous opera- 
tions that with the advent of Osteopathy will 
be and indeed are being made obsolete. 

In every case surgery is the complement 
of Osteopathy. Osteopathy adjusts struc- 
tures so that healthy nerve and blood sup- 
ply to the part involved allows it to combat 
Or cure the diseased condition. When, 
through trauma, violence or other causes, 
this cannot be accomplished solely by good 
blood supply, then the local tissues themsel- 
ves must be grossly readjusted. In child- 
birth, lacerations, certain types of congeni- 
tal deformities, certain kinds of tumors, etc., 
surgery must step in. Surgery repairs cuts, 
removes" tissues so badly diseased or degen- 
erated that regeneration is impossible, and 
as suggested, complements the other part of 
rational therapeutics. 

Thousands of cases that under the un- 
successful treatment by drugs were consign- 
ed to surgery are proven by Osteopathy to be 



OSTEOPATHY AND SURGERY 175 

readily curable without operation, but for 
those conditions where surgery is needed, 
surgery finds not an enemy but an ally in 
drugless science. 

Improbable as it seemed some years 
back, it is inevitable that in time Osteopathy 
and surgery (rationalized and changed much 
from its average status of today) will aligo 
themselves against the fallacies of medicine. 

Osteopathy, like all other sciences, 
must grow and develop, as from the nature 
of things it could not begin already devel- 
oped. When the school was first organized, 
surgery was given a minor place. For one 
reason, the demand for practitioners was so 
great and so insistent and the supply so 
small that there was little time to learn 
things other than Osteopathy. But the suc- 
cess of the early men was so pronounced that 
the world began to demand that the osteo- 
pathic physician be able to do all the things 
necessary for the health and comfort of his 
patient which any other physician could do. 
It is especially noteworthy that aside from 
anesthetics (and antidotes) this has not and 
never will include the giving of drugs. 

Neither osteopathically nor medically 
should the practice of majory surgery and 
general practice be combined; and yet the 
general practitioner must handle emergency 
and minor surgical cases, must diagnose and 
advise major surgery, and have a fair under- 
standing of its technique and results, and 
frequently must give after-treatment. 



Osteopathic diagnosis means but one 
thing: find the cause. 

Osteopathic therapeutics has to do with 
but one thing; the removal of the cause. 

-G. W. "Riley, Ph. B. T>. 0. 

(Britannica Year Book) 



How Osteopathy Treats 
The Blood 



{Reprinted by permission from the fournal of Osteopathy) 



Let the Osteopath follow the course of the blood from 
the heart to its destination and return, and remove all 
obstructions, open all doors; for on it we depend for 
all the joys of perfect form and functioning, which is 
health. 

—A. 7. Still 



On every voyage of exploration, I 
have been able to bring a cargo of 
indisputable truths, that all remedies 
necessary to health exist in the human 
body. 

— A. T. Still 



How Osteopathy Treats the 
Blood 

By C. P. McConneil, D. O. 



USING a commercial phrase, the blood 
may be at par, or it may be below par, 
as to its real value to the bodily econ- 
omy. A person may be anemic when there is 
a diminished quantity of blood, for example, 
from a hemorrhage, or the quality of the 
blood may not be normal, as from impaired 
digestion. It is well known that pure blood 
is an absolute essential for health. The 
blood is the medium whereby all organs and 
parts of the body are supplied with nourish- 
ment for repair and growth. 

The layman is fairly versed in anemia. 
He knows that it generally means a low 
grade quality of blood. When a physician 
informs a patient, and he very frequently 
does, that he is anemic and needs building 
up, the patient is usually satisfied with the 
diagnosis. Then come the iron preparations 
ad libitum as well as many other so-called 
" tonics,' ' to enforce a better character of 
blood, but the much abused blood too often 
sulks and really pays no attention to the 
"tonics." 

Why is it that the iron preparations, 
for example, are absolutely useless when the 



180 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

blood analysis shows a deficiency of the ele- 
ment iron? For the simple reason that nine 
times out of ten anemia is not a disease but a 
symptom of some digestive disorder, as is a 
pain a symptom of some nerve disorder, and 
more iron is not required in the digestive 
tract, if the diet is right, but rather the abil- 
ity to assimilate more iron into the system is 
lacking. Thus, it is at once seen that we 
must go back of the symptom (an express- 
ion of disease) anemia, and seek the cause, 
although the symptom may be most pronounc- 
ed and overshadow all others. The various 
" tonics' ' are well known to be empty dreams 
of past decades. The real tonics, outside of 
osteopathic treatment when indicated, are 
plenty of wholesome food, pure water, fresh 
air and exercise. 

There are five ways, at least, by which 
the blood is influenced and treated by Osteo- 
pathy. 

General Treatment 

It is a common statement of the prospec- 
tive osteopathic patient that he can see how 
Osteopathy can improve the circulation, but 
to attempt to cure an organic disease seems 
ridiculous. From his limited viewpoint, of 
course, the utterance is a sincere one. The 
patient realizes that any exercise or activity 
of the bodily tissues aids the circulation, and, 
to him at first, Osteopathy appeals as a var- 
iety of passive movements. The fact of the 
matter is, the general osteopathic treatment 



HOW OSTEOPATHY TREATS THE BLOOD 181 

is less potent and precise than most of the 
other methods of blood treatment. 

The general treatment tends to equalize 
the blood distribution by aiding the heart 
action, drawing blood to weakened areas and 
dispersing blood from congested tissues. 
This treatment affects principally the circu- 
lation of the blood as to its distribution, a 
quantitative effect, and but little and that in- 
directly, in a qualitative manner. 

Local Treatment 

The various local treatments for treat- 
ing the blood are purely treatments of distri- 
bution, that is, lessening congestion or reduc- 
ing inflammation, and increasing the blood 
to a weakened area or organ. To relieve the 
congestive headache, the congested liver, an 
inflamed ovary or a sprained ankle, requires 
a definite, specific treatment as and where 
indicated. The same is true to tone up an 
atonized stomach, a paralyzed muscle or a 
withered limb. 

Reflex Blood Influences 

A congested brain, an inflamed eyelid or 
some poorly nourished organ may be the re- 
sult of a reflex vaso-motor neurosis. That 
is, the litttle nerves that control the calibre 
of the blood vessels may be affected reflexly 
from some diseased organ or tissue, the same 
as a pain may be a reflex symptom over a 
sensory nerve. Cold hands and feet are of 
ten reflex vaso-motor neuroses from indices- 



182 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tioiL Cure the indigestion and the source of 
nervous irritation to the vaso-motor nerves 
of the hands and feet will disappear, allow- 
ing the blood vessels to normally dilate and 
act, consequently a freer blood distribution. 
This kind of interference to the blood supply 
may take place in any tissue or organ of the 
body. 

Digestive and Assimilative Influences 

We have now come to one of the most 
important methods of blood treatment. Here 
we really have to do with a blood disease. To 
influence the blood organically, to give the 
patient a rich, normal blood, has been the 
medical problem for ages. 

Osteopathic treatment, unquestionably, 
offers more relief to the anemic patient than 
all other methods combined several times 
over. One important way the blood is ren- 
dered anemic, that is, poor and deficient in 
red blood corpuscles, is from indigestion. The 
stomach, intestines, pancreas and liver not 
functioning normally, the intestinal juices 
not digesting the food completely, the tissues 
of the stomach and intestines not taking up 
the digested particles of food wholly and 
freely, and the blood not assimilating the 
same as it should, all result in non-assimila- 
tion, mal-nutrition, in a word, anemia. Then, 
what must be done? Tracing back the nerve 
supply of these digestive organs to their 
centers, seeking out the cause of the block- 
ade of normal nerve impulses, and removing 



HOW OSTEOPATHY TREATS THE BLOOD 183 

the obstructions is what must be done. The 
Osteopath does this every day of the week in 
his practice. He finds that weakness and 
curvatures of the spinal column, misplaced 
ribs, and contractured muscles are frequent 
sources of the blockade to digestive nerves 
and dependent blood vessels. His work is to 
relieve and readjust the crippled parts — and 
it is work that he accomplishes most success- 
fully. 

Absurd, certainly, to drug and dose the 
digestive tract proper when the cause is in- 
variably further back, that is, in the nerves 
and blood vessels controlling the digestive 
functions. The digestive organs are below 
par as an effect, the assimilation is poor as 
an effect, although one point further remov- 
ed from the cause, and the anemia is the re- 
mote effect that caps the climax. Simply a 
chain of pathological conditions, each symp- 
tom or condition representing a link, al- 
though the different links do not necessarily 
complete an unbroken circle, is presented. 
There is an origin, one link acting as the 
causative factor. 

Always give the anemic a liberal supply 
of good, wholesome, well-cooked food (there 
is plenty of iron, etc., in the food; it is a 
question of ability to assimilate it on the part 
of the digestive tract) pure water, fresh air 
in abundance. 

The Blood Elaborating Glands 

There are certain organs in the body as 
the spleen, adrenals, thyroid gland, thy- 



184 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

mus gland, pituitary body, etc., whose func- 
tions are little understood, although it is 
well known that they influence and elaborate 
the blood. It is not necessary in this article 
to go into any detail concerning facts as well 
as various theories about the functions of 
these organs. Suffice it to say, that they are 
organs that have secretions and functions 
that profoundly affect the health of the blood 
and as a consequence other tissues indirect- 
ly. Osteopathy treats these organs and their 
disorders successfully, and thus the blood. 

Osteopathy also offers much along the 
line of treatment of rendering and keeping 
the blood germicidal. Consideration of the 
germicidal constituents of the blood, or alex- 
ins, is important but hardly comes within 
the scope of this article. 

An equivalent to health is pure blood, 
normal in amount and freely circulating. 



Relation of Osteopathy to 
The Germ Theory 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



Has chemistry ever detected a failure in the normal 
processes in the fluids of life? Has it ever found 
imperfection in the fluid itself, or in any part or 
principle of the whole economy of life? 

—A. T. Still 



A fact may and often times does stay 
before our eyes for all time powerful 
in truth, but we heed not its lessons. 

-A. T. Still 



Relation of Osteopathy to the 
Germ Theory 

By R. E Hamilton, M. Pd, D. O. 

PRACTICALLY all the demonstrated 
facts of bacteriology are in strict ac- 
cord with the principles of Osteopathy 
as laid down by its founder and each year 
the theories regarding the cure of diseases 
in which bacteria play a part come closer to 
osteopathic ideas. 

In the present theory of bacterial infec- 
tion, the following facts are well established. 
Of the countless varieties of bacteria only a 
few are capable of producing or influencing 
the course of disease. The conditions for in- 
fection are virulence of the germ, large num- 
bers and weakness of the tissues; this latter 
is in most cases a cardinal condition, for it is 
now proved that the tissues and fluids of the 
body are normally resistant to the action of 
bacteria and that bacteria may scarcely ever 
find lodgment in healthy tissue. This is in 
complete accord with the osteopathic idea 
that injury to an organ may come only 
through obstruction to blood and nerve sup- 
ply (including disturbances in other parts of 
the body) lack of use, over use, or direct in- 
jury from external forces. 

It is perhaps true that the virulence of 



188 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

germs may be such that a few of them may 
set up disturbances in a healthy organism, 
but these cases as disease producers are un- 
doubtedly rare. Some of the conditions low- 
ering the normal resistance of the body to 
germ diseases are underfeeding and feeding 
upon foods lacking in some element necess- 
ary to the body; prolonged exposure to 
cold; intoxication by alcohol or other drugs; 
traumatic injury; severe hemorrhage; fati- 
gue; depressing hygienic conditions and dis- 
ease. 

How to Prevent Infectious Diseases 

Reasoning from the above given causes 
of bacterial diseases, the answer to the ques- 
tion, how to prevent them, is simple. First, 
keep the body in the best possible condition 
and avoid the chance for contact with dis- 
ease producing germs. 

To maintain the health of the body, the 
well known rules of hygiene must be observ- 
ed. Eat the things which are known to agree 
with your digestion; exercise moderately; 
rest and sleep regularly; avoid excesses and 
exposures, and have corrected the bodily 
disturbances due to the accidents of life. 

Since nearly all disease germs flourish in 
dead animal and vegetable matter, obvious- 
ly, cleanliness of person and surroundings is 
the best means of avoiding contact with in- 
fectious germs. 

The approved methods of removing and 
destroying infectious material are by the use 



OSTEOPATHY AND THE GERM THEORY 189 



of soap and water, exposure to heat, expos- 
ure to sunlight, and the use of chemicals. 2UI 
these are effective under the proper^ condi- 
tions so long as the germs are outside the 
body. 

The Cure of Germ Diseases 

Ever since the discovery of disease pro- 
ducing bacteria, physicians have worked 
eagerly to find some drug which would kill 
disease germs after they had lodged in the 
tissues. On account of the numerous report- 
ed internal antiseptics, there is a rather firm- 
ly grounded belief in the minds of the ma- 
jority of the laity that drugs are able to kill 
infectious germs in the body substance. This 
belief has also been held by part at least of 
the physicians, but is being rapidly aban- 
doned. A few quotations from the writings 
of * Sir Almroth E. Wright, one of the great- 
est bacteriologists of today, will show the 
present status of antiseptic dosage. 

"For some time past it has been all but 
universally recognized that it is futile to at- 
tempt to check bacterial growth in the in- 
terior of the organism by our present anti- 
septic which have a greater affinity for con- 
stituent elements of the body than they 
have for any bacteria." 

"Significant in this connection appears 
to me the fact that antiseptics are now by 
general consent abandoned in the treatment 
of ordinary surgical wounds. Significant 
also is it that the practice of introducing 

• Sir Almroth E. Wright, English bac- 
teriologist, discoverer of opsonins — 
noted for his discoveries in bacteriology. 



190 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

antiseptics into abscess' cavities which was 
erst-while so common, is now less and less 
frequently resorted to. Significant again is 
it that the treatment by antiseptics in case 
of bacterial invasions of mucus membranes 
is today more and more frequently follow- 
ed up by curetting, scraping and so-called 
radical operations. Above all, significant is 
it that so distinguished a dermatologist as 

* Sabouraud should sum up the results of 
antiseptic treatment of bacterial disease of 
the skin as follows: 'Curious indeed is the 
failure of antiseptics in connection with the 
treatment of bacterial diseases of the skin. 
Quite colossal were the expectations which 
were entertained with regard to what would 
be effected by these. What antiseptics have 
accomplished by their agency is in point of 
fact next to nothing. The results which 
have been obtained in connection with pul- 
monary infections by antiseptic inhalations 
and in connection with bacterial infections 
of the genito-urinary passages by "urinary" 
and other antiseptics are, I am persuaded, 
neither better nor worse than those which 
have been obtained in connection with dis- 
eases of the skin. Now all of this failure of 
antiseptics is, I am persuaded, only what 
might have been expected.' " 

The Body's Defense 

Having seen that germicidal drugs are 
worse than useless for curing infectious dis- 
eases, let us examine the defense of the body 
against bacteria and their poisons. Most 
noticeable of the body's germ destroyers are 
the white cells of the blood, the action of 
some of which — the phagocytes — is to ingest 
and destroy the invading organism. There 

* Sabourand; French dermatologist head 
of the greatest skin clinic in the world. 



OSTEOPATHY AND THE GERM THEORY 191 

are also some tissue cells which possess this 
property. But the body has other defense in 
the activity of substances detrimental to the 
growth of bacteria and antidotal to their 
toxic substances. (See the theories of * Met- 
chnikofT, Buchner, Ehrlich and others.) All 
experiment goes to show that the more near- 
ly normal the body organism is, the more of 
these "anti" substances can be produced for 
defense against disease. 

Artificial Serums 

It has somewhat recently been discover- 
ed that in defense against mild infections, 
antitoxins were produced in excess in the 
blood and many experiments have been per- 
formed for the purpose of determining if 
this excessive activity of the blood could not 
be made use of by producing "animal made" 
antidotes for bacterial poisons. With a few 
exceptions, these experiments have been 
failures. The apparent success of diphtheria 
antitoxin has encouraged great hopes in this 
line of work. 

Contrary to the general idea, the theory 
of antitoxins is not in conflict with osteo- 
pathic theories of disease (which, by the way 
have from the first recognized the import- 

* Metchniffok; French bacteriologist and 
author. Well known because of his writ- 
ings on kumiss and old age. Buchner, 
German bacteriologist, inventor of pro- 
cess for extraction of enzymes. Ehrlich, 
German "wizard of chemistry." Discov- 
erer of numerous compounds. 



192 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

anee of antidotes to poisons), the osteopath- 
ic idea being, as before stated, that the body 
furnishes its own cure. If we are able to 
make one animal manufacture an antidote to 
bacterial poisons for another one, we have 
simply gained a new antidote to poisons. It 
is not within the province of this article to 
discuss serum therapy, but it should be add- 
ed that the question of antitoxins is much 
more complicated than the uninitiated would 
suspect, and there are many, and in some 
cases insurmountable, difficulties in the way 
of successful antitoxin application. 

The Rational Cure 

Taking into consideration the facts as 
above set forth, the physician is able to as- 
sist in the cure of infectious diseases by the 
following procedures: 

1. Placing the patient in the best hy- 
gienic surroundings with fresh air, quiet and 
rest (in acute cases). 

2. Since nourishment is a factor in infec- 
tion, he may see that the patient gets the 
best food possible for his condition. 

3. He should find and remove any other 
cause of weakness, so-called constitutional 
treatment. It is in this third condition that 
the Osteopath claims the superiority of his 
methods of handling cases of bacterial dis- 
eases, for we can find no physiologic reason 
for the administration of drugs for the pur- 
pose of effecting a cure. 



OSTEOPATHY AND THE GERM THEORY 193 

These causes of weakness are as follows^ 
Impediments to the blood and nerve supply 
to the stomach and intestines, (the source of 
nourishment) ; to the kidneys, (the organs of 
elimination); to the heart, (the blood dis- 
tributor) ; to the lungs, (the organs of respir- 
atory exchange) ; and to the brain and spinal 
cord, (the controlling factor for all the rest). 

It is a common occurence for physicians 
to stimulate one or more of these organs in 
acute fevers, but obviously this is like whip- 
ping a tired horse and may be fatal when re- 
action sets in. How much more logical it is 
to give the organism the best possible oppor- 
tunity by removing all obstructions and lei- 
fting it do its work in its own way. 

The tendency of all nature is toward tha 
normal condition and natural force is the 
great healer in all disease. 



It was my good fortune, or bad fortune, 
to introduce Osteopathy in its swaddling 
clothes — a good sized baby boy with strong 
lungs. It has talked to the people of the 
principles that govern animal life, which, no 
doubt, are as the days of Eternity. 

—A. T. Still 



The Value of Osteopathy 
To The Child 



(Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Osteopathy) 



We love every man, woman, and child of our race^ 
so much that we have enlisted and placed our lives in 
front of the enemy for their good and the good of all 
coming generations. 

— A. T. Still 



Ignorance, the mother of intolerance, 
bigotry and superstition, the arch 
enemy of all progress is responsible for 
a great deal of this world's suffering, 
including many of the disorders of 
childhood. 

— G. W. %eid f D } 0. 



The Value of Osteopathy To 
The Child 

By Mina Abbott Robinson, D. O. 

IT is the duty of every osteopathic physi- 
cian not only to treat the various mala- 
dies of children, but to teach the parents 
how to keep their offspring physically strong 
and healthy, as many serious diseases might 
be prevented by regular and careful physical 
examination of the child. Parents should be 
told that the careless handling of infants of- 
ten produces lesions of the delicate struc- 
tures. If these lesions are allowed to remain 
uncorrected, they may mean suffering and 
even invalidism in later life. We call to 
mind a case where a parent persisted in 
swinging a child by its arms, producing up- 
per dorsal and rib lesions. As a result the 
child developed asthma, which was finally 
cured by osteopathic correction of these les- 
ions. How often just such cases do not have 
the good fortune to receive the proper treat- 
ment. 

Again, through the ignorance of the par- 
ents many children develop spinal curva- 
tures, induced by faulty postures during the 
time of development of the physiologic cer- 
vico-lumbar curves. We find many curva- 
tures and various abnormal conditions of 



198 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

bony structure, brought on by allowing 
school children to assume careless and wrong 
positions while reading and writing. Of 
great importance to the growing child is the 
correct position in standing and walking, as 
a good carriage, with chest well forward, 
means better oxygenation, as well as a cor- 
rect and better position and relation of pel- 
vic and abdominal viscera. Then, too, there 
are the inevitable falls and blows which may 
produce direct lesions, thereby lowering re- 
sistance and paving the way for disease. 

Hence the importance and necessity of 
having children examined, at least twice a 
year, and particularly following falls or in- 
juries of any kind, by a competent Osteo- 
path, since the early recognition and correc- 
tion of any abnormal condition that may pre- 
dispose to or maintain disease, will not only 
relieve suffering but will make for a stronger 
and better race by preventing the develop- 
ment of chronic pathologic processes. 

Humanity owes a debt of gratitude to 
Dr. Still for having given to the world a sys- 
tem of therapeutics that can do so much in 
the prevention of disease by keeping its chil- 
dren well and strong. 



Woman and Osteopathy 



(Reprinted by permission from the Osteopathic Magazine) 



We are to improve upon the failures of the past and 
give the people a science of healing with a philosophy 
that will feed the minds of the thinking. 

— A. T. Still 



Osteopathy possesses the greatest ther^ 
apeutic agent known to science. 
That agent is simply nothing more 
than the adjustment of structure. 

— Geo. M. Laughlin, D. 0. 



Woman and Osteopathy 

Roberta Weimer-Ford, D. O. 



RECENTLY, at an afternoon gathering a 
prominent lecturer was asked, "What 
are the greatest things the past cen- 
tury has brought to women!" He replied, 
"Equal suffrage and Osteopathy.' ' Without 
stopping to discuss the first, we agree with 
the second. 

It was a wonderful thing, for the world 
to learn that Osteopathy could safely carry a 
babe, from the day of his birth through all 
the experiences, conditions and vicissitudes 
of dentition, measles, mumps, rashes, indi- 
gestions, whooping-cough, the green apple 
period and the thousand other little aches, 
without one drop of drugs! 

That it could chaperone the girl through 
adolescence into maturity, causing her to ar- 
rive well, strong, rosy, athletic, free from 
"nerves" and their accompanying conse- 
quences seems marvelous. 

But perhaps its crowning success, was 
its ability to remove from women the terrors 
that for ages have been associated with par- 
turition and its preceding days. 

To experience the speedy banishing of 
the unspeakable wretchedness accompanying 
"morning sickness", to be certain that the 



202 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

various aches and distresses that arise 
throughout the whole period could be routed, 
to know the hours of labor would be much 
shortened, and the pains greatly lessened, 
certainly was a wonderful emancipation for 
half of the race. 

Eeflecting on this experience, and this 
knowledge, and on the facts that babies born 
of mothers who had had osteopathic treat- 
ment during gestation and parturition were 
stronger, more robust and happier, and that 
the mothers themselves recovered their 
strength more rapidly and were able to pre- 
serve good figures, — wasn't it the most nat- 
ural thing that the lecturer should speak of 
Osteopathy as one of the best gifts of the 
century? 

When it became generally known that 
constipation, flatulence, and the depressing 
train of symptoms associated with indiges- 
tion and headaches could be banished perma- 
nently by Osteopathy, and when it was 
shown that backaches, legaches, and all the 
other aches intruding upon the menstrul 
period, instead of having to be endured, as 
women had for ages done, supposing it to be 
their inevitable fate, could be cured without 
drug or knife, and all these nightmares of 
suffering relieved or prevented entirely, 
thousands of women, everywhere sought the 
services of Osteopathy and sang its hallelu- 
jahs. While for the woman experiencing the 
menopause, "change of life," or to one with 



WOMAN AND OSTEOPATHY 203 

nervous exhaustion, the comfort and benefit 
that Osteopathy affords is almost past belief. 
Thus it has been shown that from the 
minute of her arrival into this existence to 
the hour of her departure, Osteopathy is the 
intimate, personal, constant friend and bene- 
factor of womankind. 



The osteopathic concept of the human 
organism conflicts seriously with the old or- 
der of beliefs. It is purely scientific and in- 
sists that the explanation for abnormal func- 
tions is true both as to physical and psychi- 
cal nature and must be explained by and 
through defective anatomy, or defective ad- 
justments of part to part in the organism as 
a mechanism; holding firm to the truth that 
every activity performed by the organism, 
either physical or phychical, that concerns 
us as physicians, is the product of cellular 
activity, whether desirable or undesirable in 
character. When the functioning is of an un- 
desirable nature, the explanation thereof 
must be present in the organism, just as a de- 
sirable function has its foundation in struc- 
ture. 

That this view of the organism is a truth, 
is very difficult of acceptation by many. It 
furnishes the explanation of why so many 
are unable to accept the osteopathic point of 
view. To do so necessitates a readjustment 
of many views which have been held since 
the earliest years of life. These old beliefs 
do not die without making protests. 

— C. B. Atzen, T>. O. 

(A. O. A. Journal) 



Osteopathy A Preventive 
Of Disease 



I have long believed that an engineer of the human 
body was the sick man s only hope. 

— A. T.sm 



Osteopathic treatment is prophylactic 
because the physical defects in the 
anatomical structure may be discover- 
ed long before they begin to create 
much disturbance in function. 

—Orren E. Smith, Z). O. 



Osteopathy A Preventive qf 
Disease 

By G. V. Webster, D. O. 

PEEVENTION is today the key note of all 
thought having reference to disease* 
In the past the greatest consideration 
was given to the element of cure, but with 
the advance of hygiene, dietetics, and sanita- 
tion the thought is concentrating more and 
more about the idea of prevention. Preven- 
tion is acknowledged as better than cure and 
efforts are being directed to make the ideal a 
reality. 

The idea of prevention has three phases, 
two of which are commonly recognized by 
hygienists and sanitary engineers. The first 
is the application of preventive hygiene to 
society and the second is its application to 
the individual, the component of society. The 
third consideration is distinctly a contribu- 
tion of the osteopathic school going beyond 
the general sanitation of a social group and 
the hygiene of the individual to the hygiene 
of each of the twenty-six billion cells that go 
to make up the structure of that individual, 

Dr. Still has expressed it, "All of the 
blood must move all of the time in all parts 
to and from the organs." And again, "A 



208 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

disturbed artery marks the beginning to an 
hour and a minute when disease begins to 
sow its seed of destruction in the human 
body. The rule of the artery must be abso- 
lute, universal and unobstructed, or disease 
will be the result ; ' 9 for the blood stream car- 
rying the nutrition to and the waste material 
from the individual cells, which are bathed 
in lymph, accomplishes the hygienic super- 
vision of the life of each cell. 

This is wherein Osteopathy scores a 
point in advancement over accepted means 
of sanitary and hygienic prophylaxis. It re- 
cognizes and employs all the scientific teach- 
ings of sanitation and hygiene and at the 
same time carries the health campaign be- 
yond the individual to the individual cell. As 
society is made up of individuals so the hu- 
man organism is made up of cells, and in the 
last analysis the health of the community, of 
the individual and of the component parts of 
the individual are all primarly dependent 
upon the integrity of the unit of animal life, 
the cell. 



"The individual cells of the body de- 
pend on the supply of nourishment 
brought to them by the circulating fluids 
Of the body. The protoplasm of the cell 
is a complex, chemical substance made up 
Of an enormous number of complex mole- 
cules. These molecules on account of the 
looseness of the combination of their 
Atoms, require sufficient crude material 
brought to them to maintain the proper 
atomic tension. Upon this tension is based 
the resistance to normal or abnormal 




The "Old Doctor" Studying a Femur 

I have observed man's body with the eyes 
of a mechanic so that I could behold and see 
the execution of the work for which it was 
designed, and I have come to this conclusion: 
The better I am acquainted with the parts and 
principles of this machine — man — the louder 
it speaks that from start to finish it is the 
work of some trustworthy architect; and all 
the mysteries concerning health disappear 
just in proportion to man's acquaintance with 
this sacred product, its parts and principles, 
separate, united or in action. It is an honor 
to its Builder who should be respected for the 
perfection set forth and shown by man as a 
product of Life and its constructive intelli- 
gence. 

— A. T. Still 



OSTEOPATHY A PREVENTITIVE 209 

stimuli. The necessary food for cell pro- 
toplasm is brought to the cells by blood 
and lymph. Since cell protoplasm is en- 
tirely dependent upon the circulating me- 
dia, any disturbance of these media chan- 
ges the metabolism of the cell, and hence 
a change in resistance results. This re- 
sistance may be varied by failure on eith- 
er the arterial or venus side of the general 
circulation, resulting in changed lymph 
circulation. The constant removal of kat- 
abolic products, (broken down tissue), 
is of as much importance as the constant 
renewal of material for anabolism, (tis- 
sue construction.") 
—Dain L. Tasker, D. O. (Principles of Osteopathy) 

Osteopathy, by recognizing mechanical 
disturbances in the body as an interference 
with the local or general cell life of that in- 
dividual, is able by means of corrective 
treatment to promote the normal flow of 
blood, lymph and nerve forces in the body, 
upon which cell life depends for its integrity, 
and so becomes a most potent factor in dis- 
ease prevention. 

Dr. Geo. W. Riley, in the Britannica 
Year Book, (1913), gives a few paragraphs 
as follows, which describe the position of Os- 
teopathy as a prophylactic measure: 

"Osteopathic prevention or prophy- 
laxis comprises; systemic examination for 
incipient lesions, and their correction be- 
fore function becomes disordered; Indi- 
vidual hygiene and right-living; public 
education in the correct use of the body to 
avoid structural injury, and in sanitation 
and all conditions conducive to favorable 
environment of life. It is a complete sys- 
tem of the healing art. 



210 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

Osteopathy teaches the self-sufficien- 
cy of. the normal vital mechanism. In 
other than normal conditions this princi- 
ple powerfully manifests itself; the hy- 
pertrophy of the heart muscle in valvular 
insufficiency, the healing of a wound, the 
recovery of the body from "light-attack" 
diseases without any treatment, are all 
instances of the self-sufficiency of the 
body to repair pathological conditions, 
traumatic and otherwise. Every healed 
wound, every hunch back, every particle 
of scar tissue, every adhesion, is but a 
mute witness of the self-sufficiency of the 
mechanism, of the efforts of nature to 
heal disease, and they bear further wit- 
ness that it was only due to the severe 
and persistent impairment of the mecnan- 
ism of the body that complete repair was 
not effected. The more intensive the 
study of the minute mechanics and func- 
tioning of the body, the clearer becomes 
the law of its self-sufficiency. 

The discovery of opsonins and anti- 
bodies and their efficacy, together 
with that of the thyroid and other 
glandular preparations, is a mark of 
gradual recognition and acknowledgment 
of the self-sufficiency of the body, when 
normalized and mechanically stimulated 
to the maximum exhibition of its repara- 
tive and auto-protective processes. One 
of the missions of Osteopathy is so to nor- 
malize and stimulate the vital mechanism 
that it will manufacture in all necessary 
abundance its normal supporting and pro- 
tecting chemical compounds absolutely 
pure and sterile.*' 



A Delicate Question 



{Reprinted by permission from Life) 



A person may be very fluent in words and very 
foolish in practice. 

— A. T. Still 



A theory may do for today and be a 
clog to the foot of progress tomorrow. 

— A. T. Still 



A Delicate Question 



IS a man's first duty to his own family or 
to his client? 

Take for instance a patient — call him 
William — who is being treated for a disease 
considered incurable. His doctor, of the old 
school, tells him frankly and kindly that the 
best they can do is to hold the disease in 
check, prolong William's life, perhaps, and 
make his remaining days comfortable. 
While the treatment is going on, William be- 
gins to hear tales of what the Osteopaths are 
doing. His friends tell him of sudden cures 
of cases resembling his own. William hates 
quackery, but as he cannot ignore this testi- 
mony, he finally mentions the subject to his 
doctor. His doctor, a liberal minded man, 
tells William, regretfully that while the Os- 
teopaths, like other quacks, produce tempor- 
ary results that amaze the ignorant, they 
work far more harm than good; that Osteo- 
pathy is merely a form of massage at best 
and that William's disease is a deeper mat- 
ter. Besides the osteopathic treatment is 
rough and often dangerous. 

William is secretly relieved by this in- 
formation for he hates changes and has no 
use for all the new "pathies." 

But the surprising tales persist in reach- 
ing him. Even members of his own family 



214 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

relate extraordinary cures of seemingly hope- 
less cases, without drugs or surgery. Final- 
ly, to make a long story short, William, who 
does want to live, visits an Osteopath. He is 
ashamed, but he does it. The theory and 
treatment, as explained to him, certainly 
seem rational. Moreover, he finds that these 
Osteopaths are curing cases much worse than 
his own. And when William himself is cur- 
ed he blames the old school doctor for not 
sending him at once to an Osteopath. 

But is William just? 

Is it ever expected that a lawyer, a doc- 
tor, an architect or any man of standing 
shall say to his client, * ' Go to my rival. He 
is wiser than I am. Give your money to him 
instead of to me?" 

In accusing the old school doctor of 
fraud, William is doubly unfair, as that doc- 
tor despises the Osteopath and honestly be- 
lieves him a quack. And we all know how 
easy it is to believe what is most desirable. 

William argues, however, that the suc- 
cess of Osteopathy now being common know- 
ledge, when he pays for advice, the doctor 
should give whatever advice is most likely to 
lead to a cure. The doctor might argue that 
he gave William what William paid for, the 
best treatment he knew how to give. 

Which is right? 



The Results of Osteopathic 
Practice 



Now, Lord, we beseech Thee, once in a great while 
to pummel our heads with the hail- stones of reason. 

—A. 'I. Still 



Osteopathy today represents the sub- 
stitution of spinal treatment for in- 
ternal medication. It has no fight 
against the bath-tub and the diet kitchen 
but against pills and Peruna. 
— Geo, A. Still, M.S.,M.D., D.O. 



The Results of Osteopathic 
Practice 

By G. V. Webster, D. O. 

WHEKEVEB the banner of Osteopathy 
has been raised, victories have been 
achieved. Structural and environ- 
mental adjustments have been made; suffer- 
ing has been relieved, and individuals have 
found life more tolerable because of osteo- 
pathic ministrations. 

The results of osteopathic work in the 
aggregate make a very creditable record. 
Diseases which were considered incurable 
have yielded to the knowledge-guided fing- 
ers of the Osteopath. Lives which were ap- 
parently approaching an end have had 
years of grace added. Many who were in- 
capacitated for the duties of life have been 
restored to full fellowship among their bro- 
ther workmen. The comfort and efficiency of 
unnumbered thousands have been increased. 
As an economic proposition, the world has 
much to thank Osteopathy for, both as a cur- 
ative and as a preventive measure. Of 
course all suffering has not been banished 
from the human family, and from the nature 
of things cannot be until the end of time, but 
Osteopathy most certainly is a step toward 
such an ideal. 



218 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

The laws of Nature are absolute. They 
do not falter or fail. This is why Osteopathy, 
in releasing from the bondage of abnormal 
pressure the natural forces of the body, se- 
cures a definite result. The action of the law 
suspended by the abnormal pressure has 
again been put in operation. This result has 
been repeatedly demonstrated clinically 
and experimentally. Nature with her law is 
constant and trustworthy. Failure may be 
the fault of the physician or of the patient 
but not of the principle of Osteopathy nor of 
the law of Nature, within her limitations. 

"The diseases that are osteopathic- 
ally curable, we believe, are coextensive 
with the limit of Nature's ability to react 
to a pathological process, which means 
that this class includes every disease in 
which the pathological process has not ad- 
vanced to such a stage as to be beyond 
Nature's own reactive power. In other 
words we believe that this class includes 
all diseases in which Nature has not been 
perverted beyond her limits of compensa- 
tion. What is curable from Nature's 
standpoint is curable from the stand- 
point of Osteopathy, for we look on 
them as synonymous." 
"From this standpoint it might be asked 
why Osteopathy is powerful in combating 
disease. We know, from clinical exper- 
ience, that there is developed around the 
articulations of the vertebrae a tissue- 
perversion either antecedent to or con- 
comitant with disease of the organism 
elsewhere. This tissue perversion is man- 
ifested by impaired mobility of the spine, 
and the restoration of a normal degree of 
movement between the articulations 
means that the tissues have been normal- 



THE RESULTS OF PRACTICE 219 

ized in this region. Nature wants to be 
used well, and she is able to function per- 
fectly, provided she is not taxed beyond 
her capacity for reaction. By restoring 
normal movement in the spine, we give 
Nature, in very many cases of disease, the 
necessary assistance to enable her to com- 
bat the condition successfully." — Arthur 
S. Hollis, A. B., D. O. 

(Bulletin oj the Atlas Club) 

The osteopathic physician is responsi- 
ble for the results of treatment in so far as 
the acquisition of a knowledge of the normal 
and abnormal in the body is concerned and 
the exercise of diligence in the effort to 
correct the structural abnormalties. The 
patient too, has certain responsibilities in re- 
gard to results which are secondary only to 
those of the physician. If he expects his os- 
teopathic physician to accomplish something 
for him, he must understand that the Osteo- 
path is working in harmony with natural 
laws and must have time in which to right 
the conditions which are wrong and to place 
them in harmony with those laws. The pa- 
tient sometimes forgets that the disease may 
represent the sum of several factors which 
may have been in operation over a long 
period of time and that it takes time to cor- 
rect and overcome. In acute diseases, how- 
ever, the results of treatment are quickly no- 
ticed; in long standing conditions it may be 
weeks before definite changes can be observ- 
ed. But whether the results are spectacular, 
as they sometimes are, or come only after pa- 



220 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

tient effort on the part of the physician and 
patient, or not at all — when nature has been, 
passed in limitations — the sum of the results 
total a great benefaction to humanity. 

The osteopathic idea being in such 
close harmony with natural law is revolu- 
tionary. Tradition has been overthrown by 
it. The results of osteopathic work and ed- 
ucation on public thought have removed 
much of the mystery of disease, showed the 
all-sufficiency of unhindered Nature, demon- 
strated that structural perfection is a prere- 
quisite of functional perfection and recog- 
nized the wisdom of the Creator in establish- 
ing definite laws of life for his creatures. 

To many individuals who have accepted 
its teachings, Osteopathy has brought great- 
er freedom from suffering, from fetich, from 
experimental practice, from dependence up- 
on drugs. For such it has created a new 
view-point of life, a new philosophy — a new 
hope with dependence upon Natural Law. 



Osteopathy in the 
Future 



{Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the Amer- 
ican Osteopathic Association) 

From an Address by Russell Duane of the Philadelphia Bar 
given before a graduating class of the Philadelphia College 
of Osteopathy. 



Since the child Osteopathy has grown to full man- 
hood, it has received a hearty welcome, just in pro- 
portion to the capability of the intelligent man or 
woman to comprehend enough of the physical laws 
to know the reliability of Nature. 

— A. T. Still 



Use no man's opinion, accept his 
works only. 

-a. r. stui 



Osteopathy in the Future 

By Russell Duane, Esq. 

THE great Doctor Still once said, " Os- 
teopathy is a science fifty years 
ahead of the times.' ' In the spirit 
of this remark let us try to forecast the fu- 
ture of the profession, and picture to our- 
selves what its stature is likely to be fifty 
years hence after the times have caught up 
with Osteopathy. 

Probably the most characteristic single 
medical thought of our day is the idea that 
"prevention" of diseases is more certain in 
its result, and in every way preferable to an 
attempted "cure." Measures of prevention 
have in recent years occupied a position of 
increasing importance, both with our public 
authorities and with the medical profession. 
By the end of the next half century, with the 
growth of popular intelligence, which may 
reasonably be expected within that time, 
this idea of "prevention" is likely to con- 
trol the habits and practice of the entire 
community. With that development will nat- 
urally come about a corresponding progress 
in those branches of medical science and 
medical art, which have as their direct aim 
the production and maintainance of health 
as contrasted with those branches which are 
merely available to cure existing illness. 



224 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

In the science of Osteopathy the element 
of prevention is at least equally prominent 
with the element of cure, and hence Osteo- 
pathy is certain to share in the progress of 
popular intelligence toward the universal 
use of preventive measures. Osteopathy is 
well adapted to cure the patient of manifold 
ills; but an even more important function of 
Osteopathy is the removal of causes likely to 
produce ills. Osteopathy aims at catching 
the patient before he becomes too much of a 
patient. Its object is to rectify the irregular- 
ities of bony structure and tissues before the 
aberration becomes so great as to induce ac- 
tive disease. 

In many cases this physical derange- 
ment is so slight that the person in question 
has no consciousness that anything is wrong, 
yet there exists in that person's organism an 
everpresent source of irritation and disturb- 
ance of function, which in time may grow to 
serious proportion. 

At the present moment, the community 
generally does not appreciate the need of 
having minor structural derangements cor- 
rected. The field of Osteopathy is unfor- 
tunately curtailed through the ignorance of a 
large part of the public as to what it is, its 
past history, the scientific theory underlying 
it and the character of the cures which it has 
effected. Fifty years hence the community 
will recognize the fact that Osteopathy af- 
fords the most effective means known to 
medical science of correcting physical er- 



OSTEOPATHY IN THE FUTURE 22 5 

rors and defects having the most untoward 
possibilities. Today every intelligent man 
recognizes the importance of having detail- 
ed scientific care given at stated intervals to 
such portions of the body, for example, as 
the eyes and the teeth, and he recognizes 
that such attention to be efficacious must be 
given promptly and with regularity. In 
time every man of intelligence will apply the 
same wise rule to the remainder of his physi- 
cal structure, and even when in apparent 
health will seek examination and, if neces- 
sary, treatment at intervals from his Osteo- 
path with the same care which he now exer- 
cises as regards his oculist and dentist. 

There is excellent reason to believe that 
the growing employment of Osteopathy in 
the prevention and cure of disease will be 
accompanied during the next half-century 
by a steadily increasing application of its 
methods to cases of traumatism. Osteopa- 
thy is peculiarly adapted to the relief and 
cure of injuries occasioned by violent acci- 
dents. For illustration, I would like to point 
a case, which came to my knowledge, of a 
patient who sustained disturbance of several 
vertebral joints of the neck as the result of a 
violent fall from a horse. By osteopathic 
means a complete cure was affected in less 
than half an hour after the injury, which 
without it would probably have resulted in 
life-long deformity accompanied by partial 
paralysis. 



226 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

Now, if Osteopathy is promptly applied 
to the replacement of disturbed members and 
the restoration of proper circulation and 
muscular nerve action, the causes of nervous 
disturbance will be eliminated and a speedy 
cure accomplished. 

I now approach the interesting subject 
of the probable relations which will exist 
fifty years hence between Osteopathy and 
the various industrial pursuits. In the mat- 
ter of treatment of accidents Osteopathy 
comes into close relation with the practice of 
my own profession of the law. This fact af- 
fords to all lawyers an exceptional oppor- 
tunity to promote the welfare of their clients, 
by advising such injured persons to undergo 
Osteopathic examination and treatment for 
the purposes of curing their injuries. I be- 
lieve the time will come when every well-in- 
formed and right-thinking lawyer will con- 
sider it his duty to his client not only to ren- 
der him the best possible legal service, but 
also to advise him as to the most effective 
means of relieving such physical injuries as 
he has sustained. 

I will also indulge in the prediction that 
in another half a century the great public 
service corporations will keep in their em- 
ploy a staff of Osteopaths whose duty it shall 
be to administer free treatment to injured 
passengers, employees and other claimants. 
Such a system today, if well equipped and 
maintained, would mean life and health to 
thousands of unfortunate victims, and reduce 



OSTEOPATHY IN THE FUTURE 227 

the yearly accident bill of the railway cor- 
porations of the United States at least twen- 
ty millions of dollars. 

I believe that the observed benefits of 
Osteopathy in the treatment of accident 
cases will in time lead to its general adop- 
tion as an important element of industrial 
efficiency in the operation of large industrial 
plants. The ideal future of Osteopathy will 
be realized when every employer of labor 
will regard it as not only his duty, but also 
to his interest to cause each of his employees 
to be examined by a competent Osteopath, 
and all needed treatment given at the em- 
ployer's expense for the purpose of putting 
the employee in a sound physical condition. 
A moment's reflection will make it obvious 
that the body of an employee is simply a 
piece of machinery operating in a productive 
process. In more than a dozen of its aspects 
we can compare it, for example, with a loco- 
motive or motor-car, although it is infitely 
more complex because adapted to many more 
uses. If a "part" of a locomotive or motor- 
car becomes broken or bent, or there is an 
"interference" of parts, not a moment is lost 
in taking it to the machine shop. The same 
intelligent care should be applied to the hu- 
man machine. The cost would be a legiti- 
mate expense in the conduct of business, as 
legitimate as the expenditure made for re- 
pairs or oil in the operation of an engine. The 
public will some day realize that very few 
persons ever become ill who have been put in 



228 CONCERNING OSTEOPATHY 

good osteopathic condition at a time when 
they were apparently well. 

I also predict that the next half-century 
will witness a constantly increasing associa- 
tion between the profession of Osteopathy 
and public philanthropy. 

I foresee a time when through the in- 
strumentality of our great public charities. 
Osteopathic treatment will be furnished, to 
those who need but cannot get it, as a part of 
a scientific system to accomplish their restor- 
ation to, and maintainance in, a condition of 
active industry and economic self-help. There 
will come a time when every well-equipped 
hospital will have its corps of Osteopathic 
doctors just as today it has its corps of med- 
ical doctors and trained nurses. There ought 
to be, and ultimately will be, concurrent ac- 
tion and harmony of feeling between the var- 
ious branches of the medical profession now 
so radically divided. In time the medical 
practitioner will, as a matter of course, call 
in and consult the Osteopath in cases need- 
ing his skill, and the Osteopath will as freely 
call in as a consultant the medical practi- 
tioner, in order to secure his professional aid 
in such cases as may require it. 

In. time Osteopathy, in many classes of 
cases, will probably become the exclusive 
method of treatment recognized and enforc- 
ed by leading practitioners of all schools 
and by medical associations. I may be mis- 
taken, but that is my prediction. 

H 233 83 I 



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